Little Deidara(Rewritten)
by 17stepsdown
Summary: The Shinobi lands, a bleak place where few can survive. Sasori is one of those people; known for his reputation built in the Third World War and his association with the infamous Akatsuki organization. Making the decision to take in a little troublemaker child named Deidara, his pursuit to improve his art may take a turn. Deidara didn't have anyone else to lean on.
1. A Sincere Apology

**A/N: Hello! This is a rewritten version of another fanfic I have called "Little Deidara". The title is subject to change. Warning: The plot has a slow start.**

**I do not own most of the characters in this fanfic, for they belong to Masashi Kishimoto. **

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><p><strong>A Sincere Apology<strong>

He had never considered the idea until now, but what boggled him even more was that he actually went through with it. Be it he felt normal today, he would've ignored the child altogether and left the scene for the problem to work itself out. Today however, he felt particularly unusual, and he knew he would regret his decision.

That stupid kid was so pathetic...he couldn't help himself.

_-A while earlier-_

_BOOM_

People panicked, alarmed by the sudden explosion less than a kilometer away. Debris shot through the sky, flying out of the giant dust cloud that accumulated as a result above the many wooden houses.

The puppeteer didn't panic; rather, he was completely calm within the confines of Hiruko, a large puppet adorning a black cloak with red clouds in a traditional design. Amongst all the sudden fright of the civilians around him, he barely flinched as a lengthy iron pole flung itself into the ground just a few a centimeters away from Hiruko's front, nearly impaling him.

Some eyes were directed towards the sky, though others fled the scene smartly, some simply watched, heads tilted upwards as more burning debris rained down. Of course, no matter how many wooden planks and poles fell, the redhead was in no danger, for he was confident in his creation. With the new addition of the back shell he added to Hiruko, few things could ever destroy it.

_BOOM_

Quite a new spice to the day, if anything, the guy hated boredom, it made him feel so useless, so unproductive.

_BOOM_

Though he had not a shred of a fear, annoyance was definitely on the puppet master's mind. He needed to be getting through here and just when some idiot decides to blow up the street on his route...

He was going to give this guy a piece of his mind.

With a low growl, Hiruko began to lumber forward towards the center of the panic. Due to the puppet's appearance, people would normally avoid him; however, with all this alarm going on, barely anyone acknowledged him, blindly running past, easy targets. Of course, he felt pride in himself, and would not dirty it by killing random civilians just because. The idea was however indeed tempting, but he would not stoop to a Jashinist's level.

_BOOM_

Dust blew straight towards Hiruko, blinding the path before the puppeteer. This did not faze him, continuing forward in the thick cloud.

"_I said listen to me_!"

Hiruko paused, the redhead blinked. That voice...what was a child doing here? Surely in a situation like this, any youngster would know to steer clear, not head straight to the middle of it.

Right?

"I-I'm sorry!" A frightened voice pleaded a few paces away. It sounded as if there was a fight, and this person was on the bad end of it. Gasping and heaving, deep breathes from what he could hear.

"_NO_!_ Katsu_!" The child screamed again.

_BOOM_

A pained scream pierced the atmosphere; the sound itself was commonplace to the redhead. He had heard it many times, but it was now that he began to wonder if constant screams of horror could render a person stupid, or insane? Maybe that's why he did the things he did...or maybe he was questioning himself too much today.

The puppeteer waited another moment, careful not to approach too closely be it another explosion were to occur. No matter how strong Hiruko was, blasts of this measure would no doubt send his armor flying.

Splutters could be heard, accompanied by the sound of someone stomping the ground. Splashes were clear to the ears, but the stench of what smelled like some kind of iron would tell anyone it was anything but water.

"My sculptures aren't childish!" He heard the child scream again, throwing a fit.

The thick cloud finally blew away. Slowly, the scene revealed itself.

The first thing he noticed was blood everywhere. Burnt and blackened wood chunks lay seared on the ground, scattered. Several black patches were present on the floor, indicating burns that looked to obviously be the center of explosions. Red liquid decorated the scene, splashed on anything and everything within a few meters of the blonde child standing in the midst of the chaos, seemingly oblivious to it all.

In front of him, a middle-aged man lay dying on the ground, his arms were definitely blown off and his back was badly burned. The only indication that the man was alive at all was the rapid but unsteady rising and falling of his chest as well as gasping sounds coming from the man's drooling mouth. This man was beyond any regular medical help, he was going to die.

But that seemed to matter little to the blonde child before him.

Angrily, the boy pulled a white statue out of nowhere, a tiny bug-like sculpture that the puppeteer had to admit, had a unique art style. However, seeing as there were no pockets on the green kimono jacket and brown pants the boy wore, there was no explanation to where it could have come from.

"I'm not stupid! You're stupid!"

The redhead made his way closer. Despite Hiruko's large size, the puppet master was convinced that the child was completely oblivious of the puppet approaching from behind. The boy made no movement that indicated he sensed anything, but the puppeteer had another question on his mind.

Where did the explosions come from?

Finished with his rant, the young child huffed, tilting his head upwards slightly in a superior manner. Turning around, the boy blinked, giving Hiruko a good long stare. For a while, that was the only thing they did, silence in the background as spectators watched from afar. The boy's hand twitched, a curious drop of liquid fell from his palm, failing to evade the puppet master's attention.

Cockily, the child made small 'tch' and glared angrily at the other, annoyance on equal footing as the redhead's. First impressions meant a lot, and from how the puppeteer judged this kid, there was definitely a screw loose in there somewhere. Without the smallest hint of fear, the boy spoke.

"What are you looking at me for?"

There was no reply. No point in arguing, children could easily argue for hours without quit, he remembered himself to be similar when he was young. The child's anger boiled, glaring daggers as he seemed to make up his own explanation to the look Hiruko gave him.

"You think my sculptures are childish too?!" He accused, raising his voice.

...

His stance turned from casual to weary within a few seconds, feet sliding apart, hands becoming tense. Body language read that the little boy was ready for a fight, or ready to pick one.

This boy was pathetic, he was stupid.

Strangely, the brat didn't attack, not with any weapons or physical attacks that was. Instead, the puppeteer found himself staring, his annoyance rising as he eyed the small bug-like sculpture that was tossed into the air. Almost flying as time seemed to slow down. It was heading straight for the redhead, a small insignificant mound of earth.

He wouldn't be mocked, and definitely not by some imprudent brat.

In one swift movement, the blonde child was quickly thrown up to a nearby wall, body making a ragdoll motion upon impact. The puppeteer held no mercy as he directed Hiruko's hand to intervene the child's fall towards the ground, grasping his neck and pinning him. As the little boy struggled to take a breath, Hiruko's head was drawn close, a dark expression shown to express his anger.

Behind him, the little bug sculpture hit the ground, rolling to the right for a few centimeters, legs tucked under its round body.

"I don't think it's wise to challenge me, **brat**. Today wasn't my best so don't go trying to piss me off more than I already am," The redhead said. The child seemed to grunt in response, expression showing a mix between fear and anger. Clenching his teeth, the boy slowly lifted his right arm, grasping onto the larger and more muscular one of Hiruko's. The redhead barely acknowledged the movement, barely sparing it much of a glance.

"As if someone as a small as you could pry me off. Apologize, and I'll consider letting you go."

"..."

"Apologize," The puppeteer repeated again. He eyed the boy's hand, seemingly creating a hand-sign of some sort. Index and middle finger raised, however weakly. Be it he was facing a ninja, he would've let go to be cautious. Nevertheless, this kid seemed barely 10 years old, whatever he was attempting to do, probably wouldn't even scratch him.

"K...ka...katsu."

_BOOM_

On instinct, Hiruko backed up, escaping the blast with a minor burn on the rear end of its cloak. Sliding to a stop, the puppeteer was forced to balance himself by pushing against the roof of the puppet. So that's where the explosion came from...that little sculpture. The redhead clicked his tongue, he should have known.

A burn was seared into the ground, a sign that the explosion was anything but minor. Next to it, the blonde boy struggled to get to his feet, but once he did, his expression turned smug, staring at the other at the corner of his visible eye.

"Did it hurt?"

The puppeteer considered his answer, taking a few moments to get a good look at the child before making another judgment in his head. "Barely a scratch."

At this, the child frowned, displeased by the response. Turning away, the boy made a start in the other direction, seemingly trying to walk away from this fight.

"Apologize first and I'll let you go." The puppeteer said.

Pausing in his step, the boy huffed.

"No way old man."

He felt a nerve pop. _Old man?_

_POOF_

Pivoting around, the boy was faced with a white cloud indicating that either something was being transported off or a transformation was performed. Eyes wide, the boy considered running off but was too curious to walk away.

Within a few seconds, the cloud blew away, revealing a smaller person. The person wore a black cloak identical to the one that the old man wore, at least three red clouds visible. Messy bright red hair as a well as a doll-ish face, eyes lidded in what should have been boredom looked more menacing to the child. Even with half-lidded eyes, anger and annoyance was obvious.

On closer inspection, this person seemed more like a teen than a man.

Eyes locked with each other, the blonde found himself paralyzed in fear as the red-haired individual strode up to him. With a painful tug, the boy found himself struggling against the other as his ear was painfully pulled.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop it!"

"Brats like you need to be disciplined; I'm surprised your parents haven't punished you!"

"Ow! Stop it! Let go!" The boy continued to struggle, resorting to trying to kick the redhead, who stood unaffected by his blows.

"Where are your parents? And what are they doing letting a brat like you run around causing trouble?!" The puppeteer's annoyed expression intensified.

"Quit it! I don't have any!" The boy yelled before finally feeling the hand release him. Stumbling back, he held his ear, trying to soothe the throbbing as he winced.

The puppeteer's expression softened, turning from frustration to a mix of surprise and pity. "You don't have any parents?"

"No. So what?" The boy glared at the other.

For a moment, the puppeteer thought, and quickly found himself in rut. Was he really considering this? Where did it even come from? To even deem the very idea possible?

"Brat, what's your name?"

The boy blinked, seemingly taken by surprise at the question. For a second, the redhead thought that the child would simply argue that it was creepy to ask a little kid's name. They were strangers after all, and especially after the conflict a few moments ago. However, instead of the expected, the boy smiled gleefully, acting almost as if his ear had never hurt in the first place. He seemed excited, joyful.

"Deidara!" He chirped.

Strangely, the puppeteer felt a smile tug at his lips. He was definitely amused by the child's response, intrigued even. Next thing he knew, he sported a tiny smile of entertainment.

"Deidara?...Well then..." _I can't believe I'm actually doing this..._ "Earlier, I told you that I wouldn't let you go until you apologized. Well? Apologize, and I may let you go."

Immediately, Deidara looked irritated. "No way old man. I won't apologize when there's nothing to say 'sorry' for."

"So that's how it's going to be huh?" The redhead flicked his wrist, attaching chakra strings to the boy. In a shocked panic, the child began to squirm, trying to escape.

"Hey! What are these? Stop it!"

"The name's Sasori, not 'old man', and you're coming with me."

Deidara glowered dangerously at Sasori, arms stuck to his sides as he stood. "Why should I go with you?"

"Because you seem to lack something, something called manners, and until you apologize, I don't intend to let you go unless you say 'I'm sorry'. Until then, as an adult, I'm going to hammer manners into you, until you apologize to me."

He had never considered the idea until now, but what boggled him even more was that he actually went through with it. Be it he felt normal today, he would've ignored the child altogether and left the scene for the problem to work itself out. Today however, he felt particularly unusual, and he knew he would regret his decision.

That stupid kid was so pathetic...he couldn't help himself.

The child scowled. _I'm not sorry at all..._

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><p><strong>AN: Hello again! For those who read the original, the reason why I'm rewriting is because I sort of cringed every time I had to reference back to an event in the previous chapters. I decided that was a bad thing but tried to ignore it until it was too much. I want to make this thing the best I can!**

**I do plan to finish this one! I have the plot all planned(sort of but mostly!) and I have a good idea of what OST's I should listen to. Getting rid of the filler, Part 1 should be shorter, at least 15 to 20 chapters or so before I get to the main stuff. However, this is just an ideal, it may take longer...**

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for being my Beta!**

**Happy to meet you! Please review if you'd like!**


	2. Stupid and Deidara

**Stupid and Deidara**

"What's your problem!? You an old pervert? This is kidnapping!" Deidara exclaimed.

Across the inn room, the redhead locked the door, leaving few options but a window to escape. Turning towards the boy, Sasori tried and failed to keep his cool. Strangely, he still questioned himself on his choice of action, surely he wasn't that committed was he? Of course, this kid could definitely turn out to be a threat if he survived to adulthood, for now, it's either the kid grow up wild or grow up tamed so he doesn't cause problems. It's one thing that a child could fight at a young age, it's another that he's capable of destroying everything within a 5 meter radius.

Yeah, what he was doing now would benefit everyone.

"For the last time, I'm not an old pervert nor am I an old man. Now keep quiet or else we'll get kicked out!" Sasori hissed.

The boy glared the redhead square in the eye, giving the nastiest look he could muster. Earlier, his clay was 'confiscated' so he couldn't blow things to bits, probably to prevent an easy escape. Bad for him, he relied on his clay; no sharp objects were currently in his possession either.

Deidara considered freaking the guy out with his hands. He'd been keeping them shut since their meeting; the only thing stopping him was Sasori's strength. When he displayed it, the child had serious qualms about pissing him off for a second time.

_Great, I'm stuck with this nut job._ He clenched his teeth, eyes scanning the room for other methods of distraction or escape. All he needed was for him to turn his back for a few minutes, and he'd be out a jiffy. That window wasn't too high, but it'd be a waste to leave empty-handed...

His eyes drifted over to something shiny on the tea table.

"Now, how old are you?"

The question seemingly came out of nowhere. Stuck in his plans for escape, Deidara hadn't noticed that Sasori had been standing right next to the tea table. I hope he didn't notice me look...

"Well?" Sasori urged, raising his voice a little.

"I'm almost eight," Deidara said.

"Seven then."

"Yeah..," The child eyed the shiny object on the tea table. It was a pretty little trinket about a little larger than an eye. A convex teal lens rested on a small yellow cloth, light glinting off the surface giving it a glassy and polished look. Its edges were round and greenish. Anything he could see through it was magnified as if it were made of the same glass inside an eye glass, though not too much that he felt dizzy just looking at it.

He wanted it.

"Hey, I'm thirsty. Can I have water?"

"What do you say?" Sasori narrowed his eyes, earning a peeved expression. Deidara rolled his eyes in a strangely mature way for a seven year old, repeating his question.

"I'm thirsty; can I_ please_ have some water?" He groaned.

The puppeteer made a grunt of approval, heading for the door with a small warning to the child about staying in the room and not escaping. After leaving, Deidara could hear the 'click' of the door being locked, probably for extra measure.

He blinked, that was surprisingly easy.

"Time to go!" Deidara smirked.

The next few moments were a rush as the child quickly swiped the lens and put his ninja shoes back on. Searching the room, he almost panicked as the boy thought that Sasori had taken the clay with him but calmed down to locate it on the small dresser near the entrance, still encased in the sandy colored pouch and dark blue ribbon. With everything he wanted, he made a quiet dash for the window, ready to jump out only to pause at the ledge when he looked down.

Bug-eyed, Deidara had no idea that they were on a high floor of the building, jumping from there for a kid his age would be suicide. The ground seemed to surge towards his face, giving him slight nausea. When he followed- or rather was forced to follow- Sasori into the inn, he was too busy trying to glare the ninja down with the hopes that he would be irritating enough that the guy would quit with his whole 'apology' business and let him go.

"Maybe there's another way..," Deidara murmured to himself. Pushing himself back into the room, he looked over his options. No way was he jumping off there; it was at least a 2 story drop, enough to fracture his weak bones. Deidara was pretty sure he wasn't scared of heights, but that didn't mean he was crazy.

Wandering the room, the blonde took note of the clock in the corner, making sure that he didn't take too long. After about a minute, Deidara began to consider playing it safe and acting like a goody-two-shoes for Sasori just to get him to let down his guard. He needed a second chance to figure a plan of escape.

_Tap..._

_Tap..._

_Tap..._

He's back! The child quickly placed the lens back on the tea table hastily. Opening the drawer, he put away his clay, making sure to take a little portion and hide for himself. After kicking his shoes off at the entrance, Deidara plopped down on one of the four zabutons near the tea table, straightening his back stiffly in a cold sweat at the door was unlocked and pushed open, gaze etched into the wall ahead.

Upon entrance, Sasori paused after his first step in, clear glass of water in his hand as he gazed suspiciously at the blonde.

"Were you messing with my stuff?"

Immediately, the boy shook his head; seemingly trying to avoid all eye contact with the redhead. Suspiciously, Sasori narrowed his eyes and approached the stiff child, setting the cup down onto the table before taking a scan around the room for anything misplaced. First thing he noticed were that Deidara's shoes were tipped over, like they were thrown there.

_So he did try to escape...good thing I came when I did. Being on the highest floor proved to be a good choice._

Looking back at Deidara, he was strangely silent, staring intently at the cup placed to his right as if it were a live animal that would sting the boy if he moved. The next thing he noticed was the lens he had been working on. Now, the yellow cloth lay draped on top of it, wrinkled instead of neatly folded like before.

"You touched this?"

Deidara visibly flinched at the question, chagrining at the lens as it was bagged into the cloth and taken into Sasori's possession, placed somewhere within his cloak. Looking up at the puppeteer, the child could see the shinobi glower at him.

"No...I just-" The child was quickly interrupted.

"That lens is for a puppet I'm working on. I'd rather you didn't play with it, or touch it for that matter. You also burned one of my puppets, so I'll have to fix that too."

"Tch, didn't want it anyway..." Deidara pouted.

"So, are you going to apologize?"

"What? Why?!" The child whirled his head towards the puppeteer as he snapped.

"For the touching the lens, brat. What else?"

"I'm not sorry so I won't say _sorry_!" He huffed and crossed his arms defiantly.

Though the response itself was easily interesting, Sasori also found it annoying. He didn't particularly like being defied. If a puppet failed to do his bidding, the puppeteer would usually destroy it or leave it to collect dust. Under normal circumstances, the redhead didn't tolerate anything or anyone disobeying his wishes. However, Deidara was no puppet.

_Doesn't even understand how grateful he should be._

Sasori took a moment to calm himself before deciding to switch up the subject. This was obviously not going to get him anywhere.

"Let's just forget and move on to something else. Where are you from?"

It took a while for the boy to reply. "Earth."

"Don't play games with me. _Where are you from_?"

"Where are _you_ from?" Deidara retorted, glaring bravely at the puppeteer, arms still crossed. The shinobi stared at the child, wondering if he was really serious.

"That's confidential."

The child furrowed an eyebrow, a puzzled expression etched onto his face.

"Confidential. It means 'private'."

"If you won't tell, I won't tell," The blonde sassed, back faced to the redhead. At this point, it didn't look like Sasori had much of a choice. Despite his claim, his birthplace wasn't all that unknown, his very own title was enough for most to understand where his origins had come from.

He sighed. "Sunagakure, now answer my question."

Deidara spun around to face the puppeteer, grinning victoriously at getting the other to speak. Large childish eyes seemed to sparkle slightly with mischief, giving Sasori a small sense of dread and regret to have ever brought the blonde into his inn room. As soon as he grinned, the child made a blank expression, replying in a monotone.

"Earth."

"Brat-" Sasori was ready to reprimand the child for not keeping his end of the deal before he was interrupted.

"Earth country. I'm no liar. I'm from Iwagakure! I was a student of the Tsuchikage!" He stated proudly with a grin, head tilted upwards in a superior manner.

_Student? Tsuchikage?_ Sasori was all ears now. He'd caught a bigger fish than he had first anticipated. Made some sense, after all, from his knowledge of shinobi he had fought from Iwa, they were easily some of the more destructive he's known. Though he had never actually fought one of the rare ones before, he had heard from a certain swordsman about the thrill of fighting a shinobi capable of detonating explosions. If what he heard was correct, than the nature of chakra was known as 'explosion' nature, usually exclusive to individuals born in the Earth country.

_If this kid is really from Iwa, than he's just an upstart. I would imagine that individuals like him would be trained in this sort of thing in Iwagakure's military under their Kage, not wandering all the way out here._

"You're a long way from home kid. You know that?" Sasori sat down, getting comfortable on the brown tatami mats.

"I know," Deidara nervously replied, glancing to his right. He looked tense now, shifting in his seat as he observed the puppet master with a critical eye. Sasori wasn't exactly sure what he was being observed for, or what kind of action the boy was waiting for to occur. He was definitely aware that Deidara was a stubborn one, after everything he's seen so far.

"Then what are you even doing here? The Mountain's Graveyard is only a few hundred kilometers from this village. You're a whole country away from the land of Earth!"

Sasori watched as the boy grabbed the cup of water and slowly took a sip, seemingly trying to prolong it to stall for an answer. Once he was finished, the child nervously spoke up.

"I ran away."

"You what?" He raised his voice, causing the child to shudder.

"I ran away, ok? I didn't like it over there anymore." Deidara looked down, fiddling with his shirt.

"That's it? You just didn't like it? Come on, you've got to have another reason." The puppeteer replied skeptically.

Sure, he had also departed from Sunagakure due to his distaste for it, but he at least had something to pursue after he had done so. He had a hobby and planned to work at it away from the sand's grasp until it culminated. The puppeteer was anything but close at the moment, but that wasn't the point.

What did Deidara plan to do after he left? Just wander until his days end? It wasn't abnormal for kids to run away from home, he had heard the stories of children leaving home only to die out in the wild; be it killed or due to exposure to the elements. Even then, most children leave after a conflict at home, perhaps rejection or a traumatizing event that would encourage a child to instinctively leave the situation.

"It's true! I mean it! There was nothing I could do at home! It was boring."

Sasori felt his hand twitch in annoyance. "Let me get this straight..," He paused, leaving a silence before continuing. "...You left home, because you were bored?"

"Yup."

...

"Do you...ever plan to go back?"

"Eh?" Deidara raised a curious brow. "If I went back, wouldn't I get in big trouble?"

"You're already in big trouble. You abandoned your village, which gets you in trouble!" Sasori emphasized, trying to get his point across. However, by the look on the boy's face, he wasn't doing very well at it.

"That's why I'm not going back." Deidara stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"...What kind of logic is that?"

"Argh!" The child shot up and yelled frustratedly and stormed towards the closet on the other side of the room, passing the puppeteer. "This is why I don't like talking to people about this!"

"Hey! Where are you going?" Sasori followed in suite, ready to get up. His eyes followed the blonde boy towards the closet. Sliding open the door, Deidara found a futon and pulled out the white padded mattress, dragging it across the floor as it was too big to lift himself.

"I'm going to sleep."

Sasori glanced at the clock then back at the child. "It's only four-forty-seven, it's too early."

Deidara ignored the redhead, grumbling as he grabbed the blanket and unfolded it onto the bed in the middle of the room with a bit of trouble trying to get it spread out evenly. Without a second glance, the child had plopped down and pulled the white covers over his head, lying in a fetal position, back faced towards Sasori.

"You forgot the pillow." Sasori mentioned, watching in amusement as Deidara threw the blankets off and walked over to the closet, grabbing the pillow and throwing it onto the futon before repeating his previous action and pulling the covers over his head.

_We're definitely going to be working on the manner's thing..._

The room was silent, Sasori was definitely entertained by the little show the child had made. However, the little smile on his face was quickly wiped away when he realized that this was what he was going to be dealing with for as long as he kept Deidara with him. Not only that, but if the kid was like this during conversation, what would it take to feed him? Teach him? Keep him from danger? Now would be a good time to reflect on his parents teaching methods, not something he wanted to think about.

_Who was the stupid one again?_

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><p><strong>AN: If you're wondering, Sasori isn't surprised or shocked to hear about Deidara's connection with the Tsuchikage because in the Naruto universe, who taught you doesn't really matter. It's canon that Deidara was formerly the Tsuchikage's student but it was never actually mentioned or noticed by any other characters until the fourth Shinobi World War. Other characters who were taught by very high-status characters don't usually get any kind of rep from it. **

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for being my Beta!**

**It's been nice meeting you! Please review if you'd like!**


	3. Retaliation

**Retaliation (Part 1)**

"Um, sir."

Hiruko's head turned to face the employee. An old wrinkled face mixed with a black mask, large body dressed in a dark cloak and a rice hat to top it off, Deidara couldn't help but fail to hold in a snicker at the employee's reaction. Face paling into a near white at the sight of the puppet.

"What?"

The child had definitely noticed that with that huge puppet Sasori called 'Hiruko' on, the redhead would gain a deeper voice, easily intimidating. Upon their first meeting, Deidara had wondered what that thing was, speculating it was another form or disguise that the puppeteer used. It wasn't until this morning that he had discovered that Hiruko was in fact a puppet, an 'armor', as Sasori described it. He didn't exactly understand why Sasori wouldn't just settle for walking, but it wasn't as if it was a huge concern to him.

Nearly all the blood had rushed from the employee's face as he gestured towards Deidara, avoiding all eye contact he could make with the child.

"A-are...you...r-responsible for-for...her?" Each word came out in a stutter.

Sasori turned to glance at the two in the entrance hall, realizing that it was not in fact him that was scaring the employee, but Deidara,

Deidara's face scrunched up into a scowl, causing the employee to flinch. He opened his mouth to speak, as if to yell something but nothing came out. Sasori didn't fail to notice the frightened glance he received at the corner of the boy's eye right before he decided to shut up. The blonde seemed apprehensive at the moment, stealing looks every now and then. Deidara closed his eyes and visibly relaxed, murmuring something inaudible; like a whisper inwardly to himself. Removing the employee from his sights, Deidara made a gesture that Sasori could go on ahead.

Rather pleased with the child's compliance with Sasori's wishes, the puppeteer steered Hiruko out the inn, Deidara in toe with a rather indignant attitude. The two started making their way towards the exit of the village, not too far since the village was rather small. From afar, villager's shot scowls and others averted their gaze at them, or more specifically, Deidara. The look was not foreign to the puppeteer, whom had seen it cast on others who were not favorable. But from the way it was sent, the bags under the villager's eyes, they're tired frowns...he could only guess that Deidara had been here for a while.

Ignoring the stares, Sasori noted that breakfast had gone well that morning. Deidara was obviously slightly disgusted with the food brought in but managed to hold complaints. Sasori had gotten used to eating whatever, for he focused less on his food and more on plans for future models to his creations. Though of course, he rarely turned his back on Deidara, now aware the kid was willing to take whatever chances he got. Nonetheless, the little devil had been rather tolerable at the table and even seemed to make an effort not to irritate Sasori into madness.

"Sasori."

The voice surprised him, for it was meek, unlike the usual boisterous way the child spoke from the beginning. That in itself was enough to rouse Sasori's attentions.

"Can I...walk ahead?"

Sasori gave it a thought. "I don't see why not," The kid had been obedient recently, even if it was as begrudgingly as it looked to be. Maybe he was learning, and the puppeteer thought this would be hard.

Soon enough, the sound of the shoes kicking the dirt grew louder and Sasori could see the Deidara move into sight from his rear, pacing faster up ahead. His expression was strangely inscrutable, anything but relaxed however. His blonde bang had managed to conceal the child's expression, only a thin-lined mouth visible from his view accompanied by tense shoulders.

It was a white ball looking thing. A tiny ball with two holes in it and strange scaly pattern along it's round white surface. A tiny ball fell from Deidara's grip, rolling across the ground seemingly eluding the child's senses. Sasori had found himself looking at it, wondering what it was before looking back to the boy to enquire on this strange item he had dropped.

No sooner though had Sasori noticed the child stare at him with an expectant glare, left hand positioning itself in the universal seal of confrontation. A familiar word escaping his lips but barely heard as it was overshadowed by the sound that followed after.

_BOOM_

A mass of debris shrouded the area, blinding Sasori once more as soon even the wooden houses only a couple of meters from him were hidden from sight. Despite the weak punch of the blow, it was certainly effective when it came to distraction. Sasori had flinched at the sudden blast, expecting to be knocked back at such a close distance, his hands pressed against the walls of the puppet. Coughs from bystanders echoed slightly, but loud enough to show they were close.

_Shit! So that's why he wanted to walk ahead!_ Sasori cursed and detached his chakra threads. Hiruko would useless in a situation like this, for it was not created for speed.

Immediately, the puppet went limp, disappearing shortly in a small white cloud. Sasori tossed on his rice hat, vigilant enough to remember to at least obstruct his identity. Even then, a small cough forced itself out, air filled with dust and dirt. He made his way forward, careful not to catch any masses of dust into his hat that would damage his vision. He had walked for a full minute from what he counted, and it was easily clear to Sasori that the effort was useless in these conditions. Visibility was practically zero; Deidara would've been far away by now.

Sasori cursed under his breath. "_Damn brat_."

He coughed.

* * *

><p>"The hell's going on over there?" A villager stared upwards, eyes wide at the unusually large dust cloud obscuring even the sun. Events like these were a commonplace thing since recent, but never before had an explosion caused this much dust to kick up. The mass of dust was sky high.<p>

Passing behind the villager, Deidara paused to consider the large cloud. That tiny bomb he made was the only thing he could manage with that little clay at hand. It wasn't specialized for destruction, instead, it's only purpose was to act like that of a smoke bomb. From what he knew, the terrain that the village was built on was slightly dusty and sandy. A rare desert that contrasted from the usual forests and grasslands he had saw further away. It wasn't unbearably hot; there was a thin layer of sand loosely attached to the ground. Deidara hadn't really thought about it before, but the results of the bomb had gone beyond his expectations due to the environment.

It was better than he had planned for.

Oblivious to the others staring terrified in his direction, Deidara observed his work with satisfaction.

"You can't forget this," Deidara smiled to himself. The display would be a good spectacle for onlookers, but then again, everyone here already knew who the blonde was. The child was not ignorant of that fact.

Either way, it would be good idea to get going now. The very thought of Sasori's anger sent a shiver up his spine and surely something like this would've made the redhead mad.

Turning back to the road, Deidara continued to distance himself from the incident. Wooden rickety houses slammed their doors on him, faces visible from the thin windows and dark rooms. The reaction of it was dead to the child who had heard it many times in this village. Instead, his mind was elsewhere, thinking back to the breakfast he had. The food wasn't very good, maybe an adult would eat it but Deidara wasn't too fond of vegetables. He used to eat them, but started a slow decline sometime before he left Iwagakure. Sasori had called him 'picky', Deidara simply saw it as the equivalent as eating horse-feed. The greens had left a foul-taste in his mouth and the child would definitely go for any other food.

An enticing aroma came to his attention, causing his mouth to water. Definitely better than that stuff he got before.

A couple of sticks of dango sat innocently on a plate on a shop table, sweet soy sauce glaze glaring off the sun. The sight itself made the child's stomach growl.

_Food~_

Approaching the plate, Deidara quickly withdrew himself at the sight of a person nearby. His back was turned, frustratedly shuffling through drawers and covers in the kitchen of the shop. From what he could see, no one else was nearby; the dango was abandoned, and open for the taking.

Casually, the child strode up to the shop giving a weary glance around the interior of the shop as his hand swiped over on the sticks, leaving only one left. Immediately, he turned away, hastily walking with dango stick in hand. Once he thought it far enough, the child plopped the stick into his mouth, savoring the sweet taste with a cheeky smirk.

"Hey! You! Kid! You took that stick of dango didn't you?!"

Deidara frowned, slowly turning his head to face the shop owner. Great, he got caught.

"Yeah, so?" He jeered.

His taunt was successful, for the owner strode up to the boy, showing off his superior size and height. The middle-aged burly man towered over the child, but Deidara remained unfazed, munching still on the dango without fear.

"The village is scared of you, but I won't back down! I've had enough of you! You're just a little brat! A brat with a whole lot of guts to push our community this far! You've injured some of our own...and killed!"

"So what? What're you gonna do? You're just dumb."

"I may be dumb, but that won't stop me from making you pay!"

With a roar, a fist flew towards Deidara's face, only to swipe the air as the child jumped out the way. Landing on his arm, the blonde's weight caused him to fall forward, face smashing into the boy's foot. Using the man's face as a platform, Deidara pushed off, doing a flip through the air before skidding across the ground a way's away from him.

"Psh, easy."

Laid onto the ground, the burly owner struggled to his feet, a shoe-mark left on his face from the kick. He growled, staggering to his feet, trying to stand his ground against the village's tormentor. From afar, doors cracked open, revealing faces watching as one of their own stood up to Deidara.

"No way...I'm not down yet..," His hand was covered over his face, blood dripping down from his palm. No doubt, his nose was broken.

Again, the shop owner charged at the boy, only to be beaten down again and again but continued to persist. Deidara was small and fast, light-weight enough to not expend too much energy dodging.

Eventually, the man was down on the ground, heaving and gasping. Blood was everywhere on his face, bruised all over as well. The child watched with an irritated expression from afar. This was guy was no fun at all, had next to no skill in combat but persisted anyway. Like a fly constantly circling his face. By now, his dango was all finished. Deidara took the stick from his mouth and threw it across the floor.

"Not fun," Deidara made a 'tch', turning away to continue off to find a place to hide out while he waited for Sasori to leave the village. Surely the guy would leave after long enough; the boy would just need to evade him for enough time.

"Wait!"

_Now what?_ He turned back, eyes widening in shock at the sight before him.

A crowd of villagers, each armed with some kind of item. Pitch forks and long bows were armed as well as some knives and other makeshift weapons. Men, women, and children, all holding a determined expression as they stood in defense of the shop owner. Deidara felt a sense of dread; no way could he take on that much of a crowd. Had he really pissed the village off that much?

The chubby lady spoke next, pitchfork in hand. "He's right! We won't just stand back!"

"Everything was fine until you came along! Now you'll pay!" A young child's voice yelled from the back of the mob. Arms and make-shift weapons thrust upwards, accompanied by a loud cry of agreement from all ages. Deidara drew back, suddenly aware of his little predicament after being intimidated by the ear-piercing roar of the crowd.

A massive horde, armed with any sharp or heavy object they could find. Deidara didn't like the idea but he knew himself as only a child, barely eight-years old. Heart-rate sped up. By normal circumstances, even a crowd like this would be no big deal. Bombs could take on multiple enemies, usually without any contact necessary. However, with no clay left to use, Deidara knew he was screwed.

"Drive him out!"

"Kill him!"

It was the largest and most dangerous enemy that Deidara had ever faced so far, an angry mob, one that didn't look hesitant to kill. Turning on his heel, the blonde made a dash in the other direction, leaving the mob in the dust.

He was lucky to be swift on his feet, small and lightweight as the boy was. Deidara occasionally glanced back, eyes bulging every time he realized the stampede had grown larger and larger.

_How many people are there!?_

The street narrowed, wooden houses closing off into a dead end. Normally, this would spell bad news for anyone being pursued by a blood-thirsty mob, but for the blonde, it spelled not bad news, but opportunity. Deidara felt a bit of relief flow over his body, this was good.

The mob had slowed, seemingly trying to spread out further and denser to try and corner the child into the wall. Satisfied words were spoken within the horde, some yelling out that there was nowhere to go and to just give up.

Deidara grinned, left, right and forward were crossed out. Going back was a definite no, no.

"All there's left to go is up!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** **In case you're confused about how I wrote Sasori's character, I'll have you know that he's only 23 right now. Sasori has not yet turned himself into a puppet and will not for a few years. **

**Sasori is _still human,_ which was a thing I realized I messed up in the original fanfic. **

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for being my Beta! Please review if you'd like!**


	4. Retaliation (Part 2)

**Retaliation (Part 2)**

Escape was a cinch. With no previous shinobi training, the villagers used numbers to try and take him down. Fortunately for Deidara, the academy made sure their students were capable of jumping large objects. They looked like fish now, trying to scale a waterfall far too high for them. The boy stood a few houses away, watching with a smug smirk. Of course, he had no doubt that with time; they would eventually make it over.

"But I'll be gone by then." The child couldn't help but snicker to himself.

The dust accumulation remained, but it had shrunken. Soon, it would be gone, and Deidara would have to move from here. Sure, this village was fun, but it was obvious that he couldn't stay; not anymore. Without the clay required for his jutsu, he would have to rely on other methods of keeping himself well-defended. Something sank in his chest; he didn't know many other jutsu. Transformation was fun for the other kids but it was just cheap humor, nothing about it lived up to his tastes.

Deidara frowned. "This isn't fun anymore. And it's all thanks to that Sasori-guy..."

* * *

><p><em>"I don't think it's wise to challenge me, brat. Today wasn't my best so don't go trying to piss me off more than I already am,"<em>

* * *

><p>A shiver ran down his spine at the thought. That guy was kind of creepy, even more so that he would have to get moving soon. Iwa wasn't going to welcome him home in order to get some well-needed sleep. His old sculptures were probably getting dusty now. It wasn't as if they lived to his current standards anyway.<p>

_Whatever, it's just Iwa. I can go anywhere else like this_. "A lot less boring, that's for sure."

* * *

><p><em><span>-Meanwhile...-<span>_

"I can't believe this..," Sasori patted down his clothes, ridding of the dirt and debris of them. "Fell to that brat's trick..."

Deidara was probably long gone by now. Getting out without rubbing his eyes every ten seconds proved difficult, but luckily, the wind was strong. Why did he even decide to take him in? Surely he thought something like this might happen, and that the puppeteer would be responsible for keeping him tied to a rope. Nobody knew, nobody significant knew about his decision and yet, with the brat gone, Sasori still told himself that he needed to find Deidara. It was a strange urge, but the redhead dared not think any further. He was not like women; his feelings weren't the same ones that they felt.

For them, it was a stupid parental instinct. For him, it was simply responsibility. That was all, and that's all it should be. Dammit, he shouldn't be thinking about that now.

Hastily, he made it down the road. Empty streets and closed doors gave the puppeteer a good idea of where the brat had gone. If he recalled correctly, the villager's weren't fond of the boy, and shut their entrances on him. If they saw him pass, Sasori doubted their reaction would've changed.

Venturing past the shut houses only lead to more silence. The occasional crow or cat passed without fear of the shinobi's presence. Had the redhead never met the boy, he would never have thought that someone so young and reckless would instill such fear among a village. Sasori remembered that he did notice some burnt up areas and destroyed property when he had first arrived, but thought nothing of it, it was probably commonplace, nothing unusual.

Due to the amount of houses and inns, he could only guess that this was the living area of the village. At this time of day, he'd expect it to be bustling with civilians; or if not, at least have some people strolling about. It was complete silence, the kind of the silence that Sasori knew only fear could cause. The feeling in the air was not lost on him, a heavy feeling though it was enough for him to keep his guard, barely worthy of too much concern.

The next scene he had stumbled upon roused his interest.

Blood, smeared across the ground along with signs of a fight. The dirt was kicked up in a large scuffle in the middle of the road, parallel grooves stretched further down, ending abruptly as if someone had been pushed back from the raised areas in the ground.

Doors all around were wide open, contrast from the ones before. Sasori was no tracker, never trained in his life as one, but the signs were too obvious. He knew he couldn't assume too fast it was Deidara's doing, the only thing missing from this scene were burnt up patches on the ground, to which Sasori had expected to see wherever a reckless kid like that brat would be. Considering his age and behavior, there was next to no chance the boy had any experience covering up tracks. The redhead could tell, for it was a skill vital to any shinobi, including himself. He knew careless when he saw it.

Sasori quickened his pace, keeping a peeled eye out for the blonde. Eventually, he came upon a mob of people, each one wielding some kind of sharp or heavy object. The group was clogged up in a single street, fussing over each other as individuals tried to push further in. Some climbed over one another as other even threatened in order to get passed. Children wailed within the mess, crying out for help. Sasori didn't blame them, adults were supposed to be mature, maintaining control in situations like these. At the moment, these 'adults' were anything but mature.

Well, maybe someone here knew where Deidara was. Couldn't hurt to ask.

"Excuse me."

The crowd continued, oblivious to Sasori. The puppeteer glared but continued to keep his self-control. He coughed and repeated with a raised tone, "Excuse me."

The noise died down slightly, faces becoming identifiable as the angered mob turned their attentions on him. Of course, not everyone in the crowd quit their mission to get deeper into the group, but just enough people were aware of him that the puppet master felt it was his cue to ask.

"I'm looking for a brat, a child with long blond hair and an annoyingly feisty attitude. Anyone seen him?"

A chatter rose from the villagers, discussion flowed from the outside in, people deeper in the chaos pausing to discuss the question which Sasori had posed. The mass eventually turned to him; wailed cries were muffled to the unusual disgust of the puppeteer. He heard no familiar voices among the crowd, no cries of a certain brat.

Why did the thought even worry him anyway?

"Yeah, we've seen him. The little demon." An older man grumbled, fists tightening around his pitchfork.

"We chased him into this alley, but he escaped us by jumping the wall."

"Blew our home to bits."

"I won't forgive him to what he did to my son!"

"Stole all my hard-earned money! Took me months to save it up!"

"He killed my best friend yesterday! Screw him! A life for a life!"

"Moommmy!"

_Tempers are running high today. I'll try to avoid a fight for now_. Sasori didn't falter. Arms rested by his sides, he calmly replied to the enraged mob. Hearing of the things Deidara supposedly did, he began to wonder what other things the child committed to have pushed the people so far.

"If that's the case, you do have any idea where he might've gone?"

A middle-aged lady stepped up. "What do you want with him anyway? Are you working with him?"

Sasori blinked, taken aback by the accusation. "Working? ...It's not like that, I'm just looki-"

"So you are associated with that boy! Have you come here to wreak havoc too?!" She thrust her shovel in the puppeteer's direction.

The accusation was followed by a cheer of agreement from the mob, raising their weapons high into the air. His eyebrow twitched, cracking under trying to keep his cool with the choleric villagers. This conversation wasn't going very well, and it only worsened as the seconds passed.

"_**Kill him**_!" Somebody shouted from the back, triggering the crowd to charge in Sasori's direction like a herd of wild beasts. Battle cries were emitted painfully where most normal people would flinch at the noise. The ground shook, but the redhead stood his ground and sighed exasperatedly. This was not how it was supposed to go.

"Well, looks like I have no choice with you people."

A red scroll was fished out of his cloak, rolled open mid-air and made a 'poof' sound as three puppets revealed themselves from the white smoke. Rolling up the scroll swiftly, Sasori held the scroll with on hand as he used the other to keep his marionettes floating. The mob grew nearer, though some of the sensible individuals visibly withdrew, left to eat the crowd's dust.

The puppets spun about, circling Sasori in a defensive manner. Each emitted a 'clacking' sound as they drew their poison-drenched blades.

"Guess I'll have to deal with you all first."

* * *

><p>"I hate this place. It's too bare; no trees or plants anywhere. I miss green." Deidara mumbled under his breath.<p>

The sight of flora in the distance was pleasing to the eye, far more appealing than this cough dry village. Not only that, but being pursued by angry civilians wasn't fun, not without his clay. In a place like this, no clay would be found. Deidara knew from experience that he usually found clay deposits in the ground where it was typically wet and marshy, far from the conditions of this place.

Eagerly, he turned towards the exit. Though, the walk looked tedious, and Deidara felt rather dried out from the events today. His throat was dry and the beating sun didn't help.

_Water first._

Immediately, the child looked elsewhere. He could deal with the angry people just for a few more minutes, just an innocent drink, that's all he needed.

Twirling around, Deidara dashed down the street, turning a left corner before he body hit something hard and tall. A squeak escaped him, finding himself on the ground moments later.

"Ow...what the?" He looked up, ready to yell at whoever got in his way. However, this time, he couldn't even speak.

A tall man, definitely not Sasori loomed near him. Robed in a beige cloak with no sleeves, the man also wore a hood that covered most of his head and forehead. The adult seemed be around his twenties, stubble forming around his chin with tired and bagged eyes. For a moment, the man had glanced fiercely with daggers at Deidara, causing the boy to shut his mouth. However, the stare quickly lost its intensity, but in a way that the child found impossible to read as any emotion he knew of.

The two locked gazes, staring at each other in silence. Quickly, Deidara jumped to his feet, maintaining eye contact as he did so. Despite his will ordering him to tell this guy off, his instinct told him otherwise. He didn't know exactly how or what he felt in detail, but he knew one thing, and that was it wasn't a good idea to stick around this man.

The feeling, it felt similar to back then, when Sasori threw him up against the wall. His voice was stuck, breathing becoming irregular as his heart-rate began to rise. It felt so familiar, but foreign at the same time, an ominous feeling.

Something, something about this guy.

What the hell was it?

Turning to the boy fully, the stranger scanned the child up and down, almost as if he were inspecting his features one by one. After a few moments, the man opened his mouth, something moving within his cloak.

"So I finally find you!"

Attentions turned, Deidara visibly tensed at the sight of Sasori, approaching them with an authoritarian air to him. The silence was broken and the man withdrew, backing up as the other neared the boy with a calculating gaze.

A hand grasped Deidara's ear and pulled at it painfully, causing the blonde to panic like an angered cat. Scratching and yowling as he tried to pry himself free of the puppeteer's hand.

"What am I going to do with you? Next time, I'll literally tie you to a leash!"

"Ow! OW! QUIT IT!"

"I feed you! I house you! I even let you touch some of my things! And what do you repay me with?! You're just that insufferable aren't you!?"

"I SAID STOP!"

"Apologize!"

"NO!"

The hooded man stared in awe at the scene, mouth agape. Soon enough, he smirked, withdrawing further from the pair and made his way deeper into the village. He could still hear them, the feuding two continued to struggle against one another, possibly comedic to some.

"Aren't I lucky?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wow! Chapter four! If you made it this far, that's huge for me! Thanks for reading! I plan to work hard!*balls up fist***

**The cloak's are the same as the ones that Naruto and many of the leaf ninja wear to the Land of Iron where Samurai rule. **

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for being my Beta!**

**It was a pleasure to meet you all! Please review if you'd like!**


	5. Heading out!

**Heading Out!**

_(Naruto Shippuden Movie OST 10 - "Flight")_

It still hurt.

His ear lobe throbbed, slightly reddened by the amount of tugging that Sasori had done. Deidara found himself cupping his ear in attempt to soothe it as he followed said ninja out the gates and into the yellow and slightly sandy plains of the land beyond towards the thin line of trees ahead. Normally, the child would've been happy to get going somewhere new. His eyes drifted towards the lumbering puppet beside him.

But not with this guy.

"What's your problem?" Deidara demanded, back slightly bent as he walked tirelessly through the outback. Small dried up trees and shrubs stood in place as they passed under the heated sun.

Sasori didn't reply.

The blonde 'tched' and let go of his ear, pouting with his arms crossed. "Who are you anyway?"

"Sasori. Have you forgotten?" The low voice seemingly grumbled from the confines of Hiruko while turning its head in the child's direction irritably; only to be met with an unsatisfied expression.

"Hmph, well, I'd be surprised if you knew for someone your age, but I do go by a certain title..," He said.

"...Sasori of the Red Sand, that's what they call me."

"Never heard of you." Deidara replied bluntly.

"I didn't expect you to."

The short silence followed, only broken by the sound of birds chirping in the distance, flying in the distance across the desert plain, appearing to be little dots zooming in unpredictable curves and circles.

"You said something, how you won't let me leave unless I apologize, right?"

"Hm?"

"Sorry," Deidara waved casually and made a B-line for the west. He didn't want to deal with this guy anymore. Sure, he had nothing to apologize for but it wasn't like he was ready to keep this whole fiasco with the stranger going. If it was some small word the guy wanted, Deidara would give it gladly if it meant his time would not be wasted. He tilted his head up to ponder possible routs of travel.

_Okay, where to go next..._

"AGH!"

Suddenly, he felt a sharp tug at his teal kimono jacket, hoisting him up into the air like a rag doll. Deidara felt his stomach drop at the height he was lifted. Though he was completely content with heights, he wasn't used to not having something solid beneath his feet. Hiruko's tail had snagged at his jacket, hoisting higher and higher, to the point where the shrubs were but scribbled dots on the ground. Deidara froze, he was hanging on by a thread and didn't plan on falling this high of a distance. His body wasn't made for the impact.

Finally, he panicked, "NO! NO! NO! GET ME DOWN! GET ME DOWN!"

"You're not going anywhere." Sasori muttered, ignoring the child's pleads, "I know a cheap apology when I hear it. I'm not letting you go until you're sincere with your words."

"For what?! Calling you an 'old man'?" Deidara huffed.

"No, for messing with me and making my day worse. And now, as a punishment, you'll have to deal with me, until you're sincerely sorry for what you've done."

The uneasy feeling of being swung back and forth nagged at the child as Hiruko lumbered forward while he hung there like a coat. Deidara continued to freeze up, well aware that whatever was snagged onto his jacket was sharp, and he didn't plan on hurting himself.

Deidara didn't get this guy; why do this? The redhead could have just as easily beat him up for messing with him earlier and left without much less of a thought.

_That's what I would've done..._

"What's your point? You'll have to deal with me too you know. Won't that be annoying?" He said.

"Hard work pays off. Someday, you'll be on your knees, begging for my forgiveness. You'll be sorry you ever met me."

"As if!" Deidara crossed his arms defiantly, ignoring the dangerous teeter of his weight on Hiruko's tail. "Adults have said that before. They never remember."

"You'll see brat. You'll see."

The tiny terrorist rolled his eyes, "Right...can you put me down now?"

"What's the word?"

"..._Please_?"

"The whole sentence!" The puppeteer snapped loudly, causing the blonde to jump.

"Fine! Can you put me down,_ please_!?"

Sasori didn't reply, as if thinking it over. Deidara waited nervously, staring at the ground, expecting to be dropped carelessly. Even he himself would admit, he wasn't a well-mannered individual. Always expect the unexpected...

Unexpectedly, the ground seemed to close in instead of rush upwards. Slowly and carefully, the child was lowered, before he was finally plopped down gently just a foot above the ground. Deidara blinked, eyeing the segmented iron tail of Hiruko, snaking quickly back into the rear of the puppet, disappearing underneath the strange red-clouded cloak.

_I know this type of ninja...what was it? Hmmm...I know I learnt this but I forget..._Deidara stared squarely at Hiruko, a determined look etched onto his face as he tried to bring back his older memories. The academy had certainly taught a unit about each of the great shinobi countries, mentioning the known groups of each. He didn't really listen when they were on the topic of the Sand village, much too busy with his art to care. Deidara knew it had something to do with puppets, and that's exactly what Sasori seemed to be specialized at, but the named...they only learned about the subdivisions of users. He knew of some, the more intriguing ones being the famous Seven ninja Swordsmen from the place called Kirigakure and the Explosion Corps from his own.

"I'm going North."

"Why North? I wanna go West!" Deidara pointed towards the tree line on his left.

"Go west and you'll only find a Bay. Be it you manage over the bay, you'll only find yourself in Earth Country, the last place you probably want to be in your situation."

The child chagrined, light pink gracing his face as he looked away in embarrassment at his horrible sense of direction. Sasori laughed a little at the face he received.

"If we go far into the South, we'll be in Fire Country, and there's only a lake to the East. Beyond the lake is Lightening country, here is the safest place we can be, where the land isn't claimed by any shinobi. If it's true that you left your village, than it was good of you to come here. "

"So what happens if we go where _you_ wanna go?"

"Travel far enough and it'll all just be ocean. The land here is surrounded mostly by water, in case you didn't notice."

"Water? I didn't see any water." Deidara raised a curious brow.

"Then you're not looking hard enough." Hiruko bowed its head, sliding it's cloak across the sandy floor, lumbering forward. Instinctively, the blonde followed, curious about where he found himself.

"We'll be heading to a village up North. It's a harbor, but since no shinobi rule over this area, there will be few guards specialized for combat against ninja. We should be fine there as long as we keep a low profile."

"A...harbor?"

"The village is right next to the bay. Though the weather there sometimes gets rough, it doesn't compare to the conditions out in the open ocean. I'm heading there to do some work."

"Ocean?" Deidara pondered the word.

"You've probably never heard of it, a small village rather famous as a gathering area for Artists. The Village of Ink."

* * *

><p><em>A couple of days later<em>

* * *

><p>"Sasori-"<p>

"Don't tell me you're tired already..."

"Actually-"

"What?"

"...Never mind," The child pouted, swatting away irritably at the low branches and bushes. Deidara had already complained before about not taking the main path, the path where perhaps there would not be so much foliage.

It wasn't fair, Sasori claimed that he would teach the boy some manners and yet he himself didn't seem all that polished in it. Never once did Deidara hear him ever say 'thank you' or 'please' or 'you're welcome'. He was beginning to think that he wasn't exactly here to learn _manners. _

"Where are we going again?"

"The Village of Ink, _Sumi no Mura_. Artisans gather there to use the plentiful amounts of materials to support their own businesses. I myself am going to get some work done as well."

Deidara blinked with sudden interest. "Oh, so you're an artis...san? Artisan sounds like artist."

"Well, artists do_ gather_ here. An artisan is similar, a creator of some sort, a craft worker who makes things by hand from scratch. Artisan can be artists, usually, the two are considered the same thing. The difference is, an artisan's work is practical." Hiruko's body pushed by the last wave of trees and bushes, bending branches opposite of the unsuspecting child's direction.

"Eh? So you're an artist-GAH!"

Sasori found himself laughing slightly as the boy got a face full of leaves. If Deidara wasn't used to this, the puppeteer could only guess he had stayed on the path throughout his short travel from Iwagakure. Either that, or he'd been pushing through light forests with little undergrowth.

With a red face, Deidara tore through the low lying branches, stomping on them afterwards.

"It's just up ahead, I guarantee you."

"Better be..." The blonde muttered, before his eyes brightened again in a way that lifted the redhead's esteem by an inch. "You're an artist right? So, what do you do? Paint?"

"To a certain degree, yes."

"Are you an painter?"

"No. I'm a craftsman. I create puppets."

"Ah...so you're a...a...doll maker?" He guessed awkwardly. The name was at the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't pin it.

"Close, I create puppets exclusively. I am a puppeteer." Sasori chortled at Deidara's puzzled expression.

"Puppeteer! I knew that..." The child repeated excitedly, smiling smugly with crossed arms, acting as if he had the word all along.

Said puppeteer continued uphill, eventually making it out of the wood. He paused, and swung the large head of his creation towards his travel companion.

"Come on, we're already there."

Deidara looked up, swelling with curiosity and excitement as he rushed up the hill, ignoring the branches that blocked his path. Soon, the shadowy forest gave way to a sunny cliff side, revealing a gigantic outlook that left him in awe.

A round, fenced off village sat within a wide curve of the cliffs, acting like a pen of some sorts, blocking off all flat-land paths to enter; save for the paths leading outwards of the gates, splitting in two towards the cliff side outside the palisade. These long paths rounded the village and ended off towards the coast, disappearing at the sea where it was too far to specify where the paths lead. Sea water sparkled beautifully with sail boats lined along the shore of the port. Seabirds squawked loudly at each other, picking at stolen fish and leftovers.

A salty yet soothing breeze seemed to funnel into the village, giving Deidara a small jitter in his nerves.

It was beautiful. Nothing like the old creaky village which they had come.

_So that's the sea..._

Meanwhile, Sasori had already begun his slow descend down the steps. Upon realizing that there were no tiny footsteps following him, he turned back.

"What are you doing? Hurry up."

The child stirred, snapping out of his daze to look at the puppet master with a large grin that was barely contained.

"It's so big!"

"What of it? A lot of village's are big." The redhead raised a brow.

"No! I mean the sea! It's bigger than the village!" Deidara raised his arms in an attempt to show Sasori how big it seemed to him.

"The sea huh? What's so remarkable?"

The child giggled and took a glance at the sea before running down the stairs attached to the cliffside, giving Sasori a small scare since it was dangerous to run on stairs. Inside Hiruko, his hand was already raised halfway of whipping out the tail to catch Deidara if he tripped and fell due to his own reckless behaviour.

"Don't run. You'll fall and get hurt." Sasori warned sternly.

The boy paused at a platform at the corner of the zig-zag stairs, huffing at the other. "I'm fine, geeze."

Sasori furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance at the boy's cheekiness. _Then again, this side of him is far better than the side I saw before._ Carefully, he descended down, occasionally demanding for the child to wait, only to be met with reluctance. Hiruko wasn't made for speed, that's why he installed the scorpion tail. If put at too much of an angle, it would flip over on it's shell, and probably wave it's limbs around like a turtle until it could get it's tail to flip it back on it's feet.

No creation was perfect.

Reaching the bottom of the steps, he was met with a rather pissed blonde. Impatiently sitting on the side railing with an icy look.

"Took you long enough." Deidara hopped off the railing, sneering at Sasori with fake maturity. He pointed his thumb at the cliff. "So, what's with the bones?"

Hiruko took a glance back at the stairs, gazing upon the gigantic skeleton long dead on the ground. It's segmented spine lay on it's side, ribs half buried into the earth while parts of the mossy bone structure have caved in. The animal seemed to have died right next to the cliff, for some bones were shattered and fractured where there would have been an impact. The skull was not present, the spine ending to an abrupt stop. Whatever it was, it had long claws, for only one limb was still present, sheltered by the ribs of the chest cavity.

"A giant badger, from the Mountain's Graveyard."

"Graveyard?"

"Surely you've seen it if you payed attention, the bones in the distance to the east of here."

Deidara cocked his head, "Yeah, I saw those. You also said something about it before."

"Before the village settled, this place was home to large summoning animals. Due to some event, they all died, and their bones are scattered a ways from here. We call this place, the Mountain's Graveyard."

"Anyways, I don't really care about the graveyard. Remember, no starting fights. I'd really prefer we not get kicked out of _this _village."

Arriving at the gates, they met the guards. Twins apparently, they both wore eye patches on opposite eyes, one wore it on his left while the other wore one on his right. They were dark-skinned and burly, each one wearing a grin as they greeted Sasori with familiarity. The kid could help but stare at the swords sheathed by their sides, they almost appeared to be pirates.

"Master Sasori! It's been a while since your last visit! Running low on supplies eh?" One dipped his head politely.

"I just need to forge some metal parts, something I can't do without the tools in the blacksmith's shop. I am down by half however."

"_Master?_" Deidara spat, interrupting the short conversation, "Why do you call _him_ 'master'? You're adults right?"

One guard gave the kid a incredulous look, scanning the child head to toe, "Hm? You brought a little kid with you did ya?"

The other guard spoke up, "What? You suddenly like kids or something? Thought you hated brats."

Hiruko didn't reply immediately, closing it's half-dead eyes and sighed, "This one's...different."

"Different? How?"

Hiruko's eyes shot open at the enquiry, dark look imminent on his face, "I have my reasons."

Both brothers seemed to pick up the undertone, backs straightening as their faces paled, suddenly seeming rather weary with a hint of terror. Deidara noticed it it the moment the redhead ended his sentence, the way he emphasized that he 'had his reasons'. It was strange, the boy had never seen someone so feared before. Even those who seemed friendly towards him dared not to avert their gaze. By now, the blonde had understood.

This guy was the real deal, and he experienced his wrath himself.

Of course, Deidara was not one to straightaway submit himself if he recognized another as more powerful. To most he knew, something like their first encounter would have silenced anyone else; shut their mouths and whatnot in order to suck up to Sasori just to keep their tails. To Deidara, it felt more like a challenge. To him, just cause someone was 'superior' didn't mean they had instantly earned his respect.

Respect wasn't free, not the kind of respect Deidara gave.

"What's up with these guys?"

"Hmph. I've wasted enough time..," The redhead grumbled, moving Hiruko into the village.

Seeing no resistance from the eye-patch pair, Deidara felt reassured they were allowed to enter and followed the puppeteer in. This man, this guy, he was someone worthy of fear. Not only that, but he was an artist, and those who cowered under him called him 'master'.

_Master Sasori huh?...What a bunch of suck ups..._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Short chapter this time, I know! I wanted to make this one a little similar to the one in the original Little Deidara. I hope you got a better understanding of where they were, I don't like writing characters blind of their surroundings. **

**If you're still confused, they are currently in the unnamed country between the Land of Sound(Currently the Land of Ricepaddies) and the unnamed country where Takigakure is. All three of these countries is above the Land of Fire. It is very near the Valley of the End.**

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for checking this chapter over!**

**It's been a pleasure to meet you! Please review if you'd like!**


	6. 墨の村

**Sumi no Mura**

"_It seems a rogue ninja has entered_."

**"What part of that is news? I know the kid is around."**

"_No, the other one. He's not alone either_."

**"Sasori should be able to deal with it."**

"_But __these ones are unique. Should we inform Orochimaru to assist?_"

**"Too far. Even if he agreed, he wouldn't arrive on time. Sasori isn't a pushover, just focus on the kid."**

"_Hm, alright._"

* * *

><p>Deidara had no idea a place like this existed.<p>

From what he remembered, Iwagakure was a rather mountainous place. Each of the houses were carved carefully into the up-pointed rock towers, jutting up high into the sky, spikes just barely piercing the atmosphere. Tight-rope bridges were strategically hung from these spikes, forming a spider web network amongst the towers he was so used to. On occasion, rocks from the very tallest towers would be carried off by the gusts of wind, travelling southeast to places that Deidara had never really cared to look into. Though some may say the sight was something to behold, it was all too commonplace to Deidara. Waterfalls were the only thing from home that ever peaked his interest, having quite a few flow in from what he assumed was the ocean now that Sasori had mentioned a bay being directly next to his country.

He had grown up with the idea that other villages were similar with the exception of Sunagakure. Being placed within a desert, Deidara couldn't imagine towers like the ones he lived amongst to ever withstand the harsh climate without crumbling. When he first left, his plan was to head to Konoha, where he expected things to be similar as well. He had a vague idea of how Konoha would be; warmer, more trees, more animals, more colors in general. It sounded like an overall more desirable place than his stone-cold home.

The only things that really captured his attention were small things he found as he wandered. Once, he met a Shakuhachi player, a young man who was rather talented in it. It was in the middle of the street, and the man had played it for tips given by listeners who may have happened by; he had drawn in quite a crowd. Deidara hadn't seen anything like that, for usually such pursuits weren't appreciated too well in Iwa.

He decided he could spare a few Ryo, the boy had plenty anyway. Unlike some, Deidara prided himself in his appreciation for music; albeit, he lacked any kind of skill in instruments, the scene was pleasing to the eyes and ears, and that the best thing he had come upon yet.

Upon arriving to the rickety old wooden houses of the last village, Deidara was greatly disappointed so far by his findings. The village was small, and had some of the worst food he had ever dared tasted. Not that all of it was bad, the villagers were nice enough, many women opted to ask where he had come from and why he was alone. Deidara didn't mind taking advantage of this. Sure, the climate and surroundings were quite bland, but it was nice to have people coo over his every move. That's how it was in the beginning...

Throughout all of it, he didn't expect to meet anyone like himself. Artists were rare and far in between from he had come from. If anything, he expected to find a painter or two on his adventures, but he didn't plan on stumbling upon this.

Sumi no Sato, didn't think much of it. Being dragged around by the redhead in such a manner, Deidara had put little thought into where they were going, nor did he really care anymore.

Soon enough, he was dragged into this place, this colorful place. Busy as bees, the street bustled with people, paying little attention to the pair as they made their way through. Sasori seemed to care little for his surroundings, easily pushing past those in his way using the mass of wood he used as armor. Deidara stuck close, realizing that by the looks of the individuals working, they wouldn't move for a little kid.

Even then, the obstruction of people didn't waver his curiosity. Through a gap in the crowd, he was able to view a shop briefly, stuffed with pottery and sculptures from the floor to the shelves and tables. It was fairly dark in there, however light enough to see the creator work his magic, spinning pots with muddy hands.

"Brat."

The blonde turned, just realizing that he had paused in his step, now staring at the shop across the street. Hiruko glared at him through dead eyes as passerby's kept a foot-long distance.

"Hurry up or you'll get lost."

"Oh, y-yeah."

Deidara hurried to the elder's side, following him deeper into the village. Uphill lead to a large square, where a giant platform was built in the middle. Continuing down the path, they rounded the platform, continuing towards the boats. Soon, regular people seemed to become less common, replaced by rather brawny looking men. Window shops with colorful beads or glass ornaments were replaced by ateliers, lined with tables inside shops filled with unfinished carvings and metal works.

The wooden artwork district seemed to end shortly, now replaced by metal workers inside blackened shops. Faces and hands were less clean and more burnt looking, dark patches seemingly pointed among the fingers and cheeks. It was hard to identify people among the crowd, and the cloaked individuals seemed more common.

It wasn't long until they seemed to stop, Sasori having briefly ordered the child to wait outside one of the larger brick-built shops. Deidara could barely hear the puppeteer, having to cringe slightly at the screeching sounds and bangs from other shops including the one they were in. Sasori looked oblivious to it, not even realizing that the boy had barely heard the order, though he did catch the seriousness of it. He wasn't to go far, that's all that the kid could tell.

By the looks of the area, Deidara felt more comfortable knowing that someone he knew was around. Wandering off wasn't exactly a top priority.

_CLANG_

_CLANG_

_CLANG_

_SCREEEEEEEEE..._

_HISS_

_CLANG_

"I hate it here..." Deidara mumbled to himself, holding his hands up to his ears to prevent any loss of hearing. The noise almost hurt, constant banging and engine roars felt as if they were right next to him, not meters away. His hands twitched, it didn't seem as if they liked it either, constantly wriggling with discomfort. Explosions were one thing, just a quick BANG and then quiet. Constant noise however, well, never in his life had ever been exposed to it. Not only that, but the air was thick and heated, causing a shortness of breath. Deidara almost felt sick.

_Hurry up, old man..._

* * *

><p>Luckily, the waiting session wasn't too long; according to Sasori at least, they were only there for half an hour, but to the boy, it felt like a day. Soon, they were back at the wood district; however the particularly muscular men seemed to have gone.<p>

They settled again at a workshop that the puppet master seemed to know well. The owner was rather burly himself, a man with rough looking hands. Deidara was even let inside, allowed to do as he pleased as he pondered the shelves, inspecting different unfinished carved works, one resembling a frog or toad; the boy never thought the two were any different from each other.

Sasori had discarded Hiruko, now standing bare and in the open while Deidara overheard his conversation with the worker who was called 'Daiku' from what he could catch.

"It's only been eight months, quit acting like it's been years."

"Oh it's been over half a year now," Daiku remarked.

Deidara sniffed a little, the air seemed thicker with dust around here. The air smelt like burnt popcorn, or what he remembered of burnt popcorn smelling like. Looking closer he could see bits of wood dust floating casually in the air past his face and then out of sight. Breaths seemed heavier near this place; he had to make more effort into breathing. He wanted to ignore the small detail of the area but it was too hard to, he couldn't push the burnt popcorn thought out of his head.

Looking ahead, he could see the other had already started to wander the place, occasionally rummaging through some boxes and piles. Sasori seemed to be busy at work like this, and Deidara didn't want to disturb. Sighing, he walked inside and sat down on a wooden stool near a worktable. He minded himself with the tools, not knowing what they were he wasn't one to randomly pick things up. Getting comfortable despite the height of the stool, he tried to clear a bit of the table from the wood bits, sweeping the table with his arms. He made a sound of surprise as a brush hit the table in front of him.

"Haha, don't sweep the table with your hands. You'll get splinters."

The child looked up to see the man from before grinning down at him. He chuckled at the boy's look.

"It's one of the rules to working in a woodshop. Never sweep with your hands...even with gloves on."

Taking the worker's advice, the blonde boy grabbed the brush and swept the table. Pushing the wood bits into the garbage can at the end of the table he repeated the action of a couple of times until he was satisfied with the result, feeling the table with his fingers to determine how much debris was left on it.

Daiku turned to the back of the shop, "Quiet one, he yours?"

"As if."

Deidara felt a nerve twitch in his hand at the question. He was certainly not quiet, and didn't think highly of those who were. Those kinds of people were boring.

"Then, Master Sasori, what'dya have a kid around for? He your new subject?"

That word again...The blonde squinted his eyes suspiciously. Subject?

Sasori continued to rummage. He grunted in frustration as he couldn't find the label he was looking for on the boxes. _631...631..._He repeated the number in his head. He paused to read another label.

"Six three- no, that's not it," _631! Not 638. Why is it so messy in here? Couldn't Daiku have put them in neat numbered stacks?_ Sasori ranted in his head while pushing another box out of the way into another box. Sasori blinked when he finally saw the code number at the very bottom of the pile.

"Found it."

"Found what?" Deidara asked.

Sasori pulled the box out of the pile, into an empty space into the light of the workshop. Bits of dust launched into the air as the box was moved, causing him to try fan away the dust with his hand.

"It's been over a year. Don't be surprised that it's collecting dust," Daiku mentioned, seeing the redhead's obvious annoyance with the dust cloud.

"You haven't even maintained it. This whole pile's collecting dust. When did you last clean this place out?" Sasori made a weak glare at the other.

The worker scratched the back of his head, thinking back into the year, "Geeze, I've been so busy with work I never really thought of it. I think it was...six months? I think."

"Clean it out today, no excuses," He ordered.

"Okay, okay."

Meanwhile, Deidara worked at a small bit of clay Sasori had allowed him to play with. His thoughts had drifted and soon, he found himself molding a frog. It was a fairly simple piece, a round egg-like body with two large back legs attached to the fatter end. With no mouth yet, two dents for eyes were the only feature that identified that part as the head. Currently, he worked at the arms, painstakingly concentrated as he tried to get the fingers right without the use of his palms. It was a small frog, so details were even harder with little clay.

Nearby footsteps disturbed him, pausing to gaze over to who it was. Sasori was standing behind him, a bit of his cloak was in the sunlight but everything from his hands up was shadowed. Deidara comprehended the look to mean that they were leaving, destroying his frog by rolling it up, melding the legs and arms into a small mass. Pushing away from the table, the blonde hopped off the stool.

"Help me carry these." Sasori said, immediately dropping some wood into Deidara's arms. The boy stumbled back before catching himself and steadying. He looked down to see 3 blocks of dark colored wood.

"Eh? Why do_ I_ have to carry them?" Deidara protested.

"Because it's courteous to help others, particularly the ones who feed you."

Deidara glared at Sasori, however weakly. The puppeteer raised a brow at him before continuing past the boy to the front of shop. Deidara huffed and arched his back, the wood was heavy, more of a reason he didn't want to drop it. He grit his teeth, glaring squarely at the other.

Sasori paid Daiku for the wood. Handing over the ryo while holding the box with the other.

_Courtesy my butt, he probably just doesn't want to hold all of it..._

"The shop's been pretty empty recently. No one really stays long."

"Another reason to clean up. The mess is repelling customers. Do yourself a favor." He advised.

Daiku sighed, combing his finger through his short hair. "Fine."

The two nodded towards each other before the redhead stepped out of the shop with the box. Deidara followed hastily, trying to catch up until he had reached Sasori's side. As they walked, the people around them gave the two several expressions. Some expressions went from looks of admiration to looks of opposition. Sasori didn't seem bothered by this, rather he walked through with a straight face Deidara had no idea how he kept up all the time. Sure, he had some expression but they usually didn't stray far from his neutral look. It bothered Deidara; there was something unnatural about it. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Your face is weird."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry about a week of nothing! Winter breaks finally here now though! So that means I can update all I want! I had a lot to do before Winter break, so I hope you guys can forgive me! *kneels in the ground and pleads***

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for checking the chapter!**

**It was nice to meet you! Please review if you'd like!**


	7. Filler: November 8th!

**Filler: November 8th**

**Sasori here. If some of you recall, the original had something similar with us being invited on set off job by the writer. Deidara was up? I think so, anyway, I'm here to...**

**(checks script)**

**...I'm here to thank all the supporter people who have continued to read even after the discontinue of the original. I am a little younger in this, my twenties I believe, I didn't even achieve my ultimate art yet...**

**Hmph, I was naive back then.**

**Anyway, here's the list:**

* * *

><p><strong>Belphy<strong>

**Caroline999**

**Ixaram**

**KatiKittyKat**

**Mew Hana**

**MusingAIR**

**Nope Hi**

**Onyx Viper**

**Seshat-Ra**

**SolfaK**

**The Half-Fallen Angel**

**ThePathsOfPaths**

**ThwippThwipp**

**a Wiccan**

**blackstardragonlover**

**princessbinas**

**the-awesome-bee**

**Dark Magician Leaf**

**chaann**

* * *

><p><strong>(checks script again)<strong>

**...Also appreciating...**

**(checks script again)**

**...Also thanks to everyone else who has helped out, reviewed, or continues to read. **

**_Danna! You're being awful boring, hm!_**

**What are you doing here? Go home.**

**_You're seriously going by the original script? Add some pizazz, hm! Some excitement! People will think the writer is being sarcastic yeah!_**

**What do I car-**

**-**_**Thanks to everyone who's helped out so far, hm! The writing's gotten a lot better and I'm definitely more like myself this time! Hm!**_

**...Someday I swear-**

**_-'I'm gonna be part of your collection' and blah blah, I get it. Get over it Danna, the Naruto series is done. _**

**...Still...**

**_Ever since Part 2, you've had a stick up your ass all day, hm. Not only in the manga but in the fanfic too! Leave it! I ain't surrenderin'..._**

**See, this is why you actually memorize the script. **

_**What?**_

**You forgot to thank the Beta too.**

_**Eh? I forgot that? Hm...oh yeah! Big thanks to that Anniegirl132 person for checking the chapters, hm! The writer's real excited about you continuing to help out! She apparently doesn't know what she'd do without ya.**_

_**See ya guys! Hm!**_


	8. Eternal Artist

**Eternal Artist**

"So how long are we staying?"

A reasonable question. With no actual plan in mind, one could imagine that Sasori had some trouble answering it. His puppets usually took days on end to finish. It wasn't as if he had just started the moment he got here, but certain tools could not be forged on travel. Metal work was difficult, and the process of actually finding the metals, cutting, welding and cooling usually prolonged the puppeteer's stay anywhere. Previous travel partners never minded this. Capable of taking care of themselves meant that Sasori had little to worry about as they whiled away the time on their own, but multitasking proved to be something he did not prepare for. Not that he had anticipated that kind of responsibility to even be something he had to consider, not in detail at least.

Having to labour away at his own tasks, Sasori had to keep in mind that Deidara was a rather restive kid, undisciplined as well. For brats like these, hesitation of an authority figure meant weakness.

"Long enough to get my puppets prepared for combat. I need them finished."

Deidara stared squarely, despite the nod he received, the redhead immediately sensed that the child picked up on his uncertainty. Dissatisfaction with the reply was only confirmed by the boy's next question.

"When's that gonna be?"

Something inside him twitched. Why did he have to deal with this? Because he chose to wasn't it? He was doing something good for a change, and the brat didn't seem too grateful for it. Heck, the blonde was brave enough to persuade the others to let him into the shop, despite Sasori's clear order to stay by the shop and enough in sight that he wouldn't lose him. Deidara had certainly-without a doubt- followed that order, but the redhead had meant to stick around the entrance of the shop, not right next to his desk, barraging him with questions in front of the other workers. Surely some attention was brought to his way now, but rejection wasn't an option at the moment. Deidara seemed set on satisfying his curiosity on the topic, and angering him meant total destruction, and if they didn't escape fast enough, more things to pay for.

He wasn't exactly yet clear on how Deidara could do it; make explosive sculptures. Though some detonated by even the smallest nudge, others could easily be crushed without a second thought by it's creator. All he knew was that with clay, the boy was dangerous, without it, the best he could do was throw a tantrum. It was always best to keep weapons away from the hands of children. Even then, he had to allow the boy _some_ clay, or else he'd be dealing with more complaints than he already is.

"Probably a couple of days. After that, we'll be moving south."

"That's so long! If you don't entertain me, I'm gonna be bored." Deidara mumbled, dropping his head onto the wooden table.

That was a threat, he could tell. Though the statement itself had no mention of 'or else' in it, the very words 'entertain me' and 'I'm gonna be bored' were enough to quickly put Sasori on edge.

He had enough of this.

A good slam on the table with a chisel was enough to spook the boy, stumbling back with wide eyes, immediately focusing all his attention on Sasori. Of course, the message wasn't only sent to him, but it was easy to signal to others that he wasn't in the mood to be messed with. Normally, everyone got along in this village, no matter where you came from, as long as you created something and had a passion in it, you were treated like an acquaintance though not quite a friend. The Village of Ink was a sort of getaway for him, where annoyance was something he could easily avoid simply by ignoring it. Deidara was the personification of annoyance.

Dropping his tools, he faced the brat, and with a rather pissed expression at that.

"What do you want?"

With a grin of victory, Deidara regained his ground and pointed towards the street. Adults always acted like they knew where they were going, the confident ones at least. They could plan to work all day but certain roadblocks would cause them to go elsewhere, disrupting it. The child wasn't too keen on waiting for hours on end anyways.

"I don't want to sit around waiting for you to finish, that's boring. Can we go and look at the stuff over there? It's a lot prettier."

"You just want to look at them? Or buy them?"

The child seemed to ponder the question for a while. He had been wanting to take a close-up look at the art here, ever since they passed through. It all looked really pretty, and being the kind of kid he was, Deidara was rather fond of anything that was shiny or intricate. To buy, well, he didn't need it. After all, all he wanted was a better look around.

"Look."

It was either he leave his unfinished puppets for tomorrow or have them destroyed on the spot. Sasori was beyond irritated by now.

* * *

><p>An unusual sight, considering his reputation the puppeteer had put all his efforts into not making eye contact with anyone but Deidara, even wearing his rice hat to assist. By now, he wasn't sure how many times he had been forced to quicken his pace and yell for the blonde to slow down and stick close. Unlike the metalworkers and the practical wood-carvers close to the shore, Sasori had known the decorative artisans to produce more colourful pieces. Due to this, the area was far more loaded with visitors and other decorative members to either acknowledge or create. Deidara was for sure one of these people.<p>

Be it he had been looking at the clocks correctly, they had been touring for a little over two hours. Shops were of an abundance, mainly sculptures and paintings have been the subject of fascination from the little terror. Prices were monsters, and Sasori had thanked Buddha that Deidara was rather content with simply observing and not purchasing anything. Strangely, the child was also rather obedient as well, barely lifting an hand less actually attempting to touch some of the objects. Shiny things like glassware and metal pieces had swallowed much of their time, and even now as they were entering their third hour, Deidara had yet to grow weary.

The boy had an appreciation for art, and though Sasori didn't approve much of his interest in fragile origami, sculptures were indeed worthy of some praise. Then again, the puppet master reminded himself what exactly he tended to see the kid using sculptures for, so chances were, their feelings was not the same. Not to mention Deidara's strange obsession over whether or not someone was an artist, impulsively questioning the creator on the topic.

Venturing further north of the village, the two were closer to the cliffs now. Deidara stared curiously at a stand, eyeing the pure white turtle carving. Sasori hadn't seen that look in his eye before, less of admiration and more of puzzlement gleamed in them, as if the turtle carving was a scribbled drawing and he was trying to make out what it was supposed to be.

Deidara had ran ahead again, but luckily for the other, he had been staring for a while and it was for long enough that the redhead could catch up. The moment he did, the child turned his attentions on him.

"What is it?"

An abrupt question, and one that Sasori was dumbfounded that the kid couldn't figure out the answer to on his own. Furrowing his eyebrows, he replied, "A turtle, what did you think it was?"

"It's so shiny, but it's really light. It's not glass."

"The material is bone," The owner of the stand answered proudly, "Us bone-carvers use bones from the Mountain's graveyard to make our models strong and light. Of course, horns usually work best."

Bone-carvers. One of the few groups of artisans here that Sasori felt were worthy of appreciation. Using animal bones, the artist would use the organic material to carve their sculptures into beautiful creatures or an abstract design. To carve a deer out of an antler was a rather commendable thing to him, even in death, the remains would be used to eternalize the animal itself, be it no one breaks it of course. Even if the ending result resembled nothing of the beast it originated from, in the rotting stages, bone is the very last thing to decay, and depending on conditions, it may take centuries to successfully return to the earth.

"Mountain's graveyard..."

Deidara mouthed the title in wonder, a tone barely at a whisper. Eyes gazed up towards the cliff, inspecting the gigantic bones jutting up from the ground of the elevated level, bits of skeletal parts poking out from the wall. Thoughts drifted, but soon, his head whipped back to the carver in a way that seemed to be child-like to Sasori, whom was rather comforted by the idea that perhaps Deidara was still a regular kid on the inside.

"So, that means you're an artist?!"

"Erm..." The carver paused, taken by surprise at the question.

_Great, he's gonna cause problems like this_. Swiftly, Sasori pulled Deidara back into a corner, retreating from the evident awkwardness of a sudden oral exam by the child himself. Of course, despite the relief from such a situation for the puppeteer, to the brat, it was an unwanted interruption.

He yanked back his arm, glaring sharply at the redhead, "Hey! What was that for!?"

"Why must you ask people if their an artist or not?!"

Deidara cocked his head at the elder, as if the question he posed was stupid, "What's wrong with it? You seemed happy when I asked you."

"You can't just ask people like that out of the blue."

"...Why not?"

_Do I really have to explain..._Sasori sighed to himself, messing around with his own hair for a bit before he knelt down face to face with the boy. Examples usually worked best.

"You didn't like it when I asked you where you came from right?"

He nodded.

"Okay, now imagine that some stranger comes up to you and asks where you come from. Does that feel normal to you?"

Met with a blank stare, a silence fell. Sasori began to wonder if he was really getting through that thick skull of the kid's. Not doubt was the child clever, but it was theorized that there were many types of intelligence. A person could be socially intelligent but unable to figure out simple equations. For the blonde, it seemed he could easily make quick decisions on the spot, but was too socially inept.

Suddenly, Deidara's eyes brightened and he clapped. "...Oh! Like you did to me!"

"That's not the same thing..."

* * *

><p>"So, everyone's an artist here?"<p>

"Almost. Not everyone who's walking around is one."

Artist. The term was something powerful to Deidara, as the puppet master had discovered. Many things were explained from there, for the boy had jumped on the topic after Sasori had explained what an artisan was upon their arrival. Children had their aspirations, though many didn't have realistic ones. Deidara's aspiration was a slightly different. Not impossible, but not exactly what one would call a walk-through-the-park, as the puppeteer was to find out.

"I've never met so many artists before..," The child pondered, staring out into the reddening sea, reflecting the light of the large bright star just above the ocean horizon. No point in getting to work now, for Sasori had planned on getting some sleep that night.

"Have you?" The reply was absent-minded, the redhead's mind already drifting elsewhere on plans of the next day. Eyes floating over the docks and ships. Deidara had wanted to see the boats, and dragged him there.

"Yeah. There weren't really any artists in Iwagakure, so you're my first one. I wanna be an artist, but not some small one that people forget once their dead. I wanna be someone bigger."

The tone was noticeably quieter, catching the puppeteer's attention. Of all the time he had spent with the child, he spoke loudly and boisterously; barely holding back on his words. Now, it was as if he were speaking of a secret, quiet and soft, with a hint of tiredness in it.

"I know people die. So when I die, I don't want to be some nameless ninja."

"So you want to be...eternalized? Forever remembered and known?" Sasori smiled, slightly interested in conversing now.

"Something like that!" Deidara chirped, "I don't like the idea that dying is the end. That's what everyone says. I think that's stupid."

"Hmph. I don't like it either. I'm glad to hear we're on the same page."

"You're gonna be an adult though, isn't it scary? You're gonna die soon."

So casually put, the question itself would've been offensive to anyone else. The idea of death, at least he wouldn't have to explain it. Death, the end of all things, the end of life, the end of the world, the end of one's existence. Youth and beauty culminates, and then rots. A flower withers, a once desirable home is abandoned and collapses with time. Life is so short, and so meaningless to some. Why do things if it's all to waste in the end?

"Actually, I'm already an adult. I'm twenty-three."

Deidara's eyes widened, tearing his attentions away from the setting sun and onto Sasori. "Whoa! You're gonna die really soon!"

"I wouldn't count on that."

"Hm?"

"I have a similar aspiration. I would also like to be eternalized. I'm not too keen on dying."

"But you're gonna die anyway. I don't know a lot of ninja who lived past thirty. Most people who die at home are like, twenty-three-ish."

"Well I'm different. I'm not nameless, I am Sasori of the Red Sand. People know that as my title. I'm far stronger than the average shinobi, and I certainly will not die at twenty-three. I don't plan on dying, not at twenty-five, or thirty-five."

"But everyone dies. My friend's grandpa died last year."

"Well, I won't. And I'll find a way to make that possible. I won't die, and you can trust me on that."

"I don't like funerals. They're boring and dull, everything's black'n stuff. I'm not going to yours, no matter what you say!"

"Then I won't have one."

"Good!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Deidara's aspiration should become more clear as I keep writing. The original fanfic had the canon ambition of Deidara skewed so I'm trying to keep it closer to the original for the sake of as little OOC'ness as possible. Sasori's is not yet a human puppet. Explanations will come later. **

**I've also noticed that my style of writing my change. **

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for being my Beta!**

**It was nice to meet you! Please review if you'd like!**


	9. Born, Live, Die

**Born, Live, Die**

It taunted him; it teased him, that little gem of an object. Deidara hadn't seen it for days; the little glass lens, sitting there on that little yellow cloth, bits of light glaring off its smooth teal surface. A shiny, shiny little stone thing; and the child was rather fond of shiny things.

"It was huge! Thank Buddha it didn't try to eat us!"

The chatter had been an object of interest for a while now in the village. Despite that word had yet to reach Sasori's ears, the blonde had already stumbled upon it. Constant talk of a large animal that had wandered into the nearby area, having eaten some travelers just leaving. Apparently, it happened just yesterday, while the two had toured the more colorful parts of the village.

"A snake!? That big?"

_Snake?_ Deidara tore his attentions away from a strange six armed puppet that hung on the wall of the inn, two workers gossiped in a nearby fur shop, surrounded by raccoon and bear skins. Having observed the owners of it from the second floor window, Deidara had concluded confidently that twice a day, people came by to hand over skins while money was paid to the ones who brought them by. One of the men who spoke first about the snake, he was probably one of those people.

"Brat."

Sasori had called, a demanding tone in his voice. Deidara turned his head only slightly, trying to listen to both the men and the redhead at the same time; evidently, he found this task rather difficult. Eventually, they made eye contact, signaling to the puppeteer that the child was at least half-listening.

"I'm going out for a bit. Since you've been good for these past days, I'm going to trust you to stay put until I'm back. It'll only be for an hour or less, and don't think that I won't find you if you decide to escape again."

Deidara nodded.

"Hm. If I don't find you in here when I get back..."

That look again, Sasori's must have thought it looked intimidating, scary even, but with the form he was in now, the boy wasn't too impressed. That dark expression, furrowed eye brows met with a slight frown. Hiruko was far more menacing, and the puppet never had to try; because it was a puppet.

"...I _will_ find you."

"Got it."

The puppet master caught the boy rolling his eyes, tired of his talk. It didn't really matter anyways; Deidara seemed content here, a village full of artists, like himself supposedly. The redhead doubted that even if the boy where not to be in the room when he returned, he wouldn't be far, perhaps spending his time looking at crystal shops or playing by the small beach near the boats. Yesterday, the blonde had easily proved himself capable of self-control, or well, not blowing things up at least. Boredom was one trigger to destruction as Sasori had discovered not too long ago, and while he was around, Deidara would not dare set off a sculpture, knowing well of the possible consequences while in the sand-ninja's range.

Deidara was a good boy when he felt like it. Hopefully, he'd continue with that attitude for the rest of their stay.

Soon enough, the door slid closed, allowing the relative silence to invade every corner of the room. He was alone, and it felt strange.

Alone, it was not a foreign feeling, but this time, it seemed like something so old. Sasori had lied; they weren't going to stay for a couple of days. Three days had passed but it wasn't as if they had passed too slowly, in fact, they seemed to have zipped by. Sasori was a rather interesting individual, claiming that his puppets were the soul of his artwork. Deidara understood, to a point. Artwork was certainly the product of one's hard labor, a desire fulfilled to create and express one's own thoughts and feelings. No doubt were puppets an option of release for these things, but quite a few aspects of his art had the boy scratching his head.

Eternity, the way that Sasori described it once during breakfast was...interesting. Beauty once born and then everlasting for all to generations to see and appreciate, never rotting or dying. That's what he said, that's what Deidara could remember, but few mentions of death itself in the explanation sounded like a story with no conclusion. His puppets, something was strange about them, the way they all looked. Of course, each one had their differences from each other; some had blue eyes while others had brown. A few were girls while the majority were boys. The explanation had some sense in it, but Deidara-for the life of him- couldn't figure out what connection it was supposed to have to his puppets. Nothing lasted; everything dies eventually, and disappeared from the memories of everyone. Puppets are created, and in Sasori's line of work, eventually broken.

It was a never ending cycle, born, live, die, forgotten.

* * *

><p><em>"I won't end up like that! I'll change it! If you won't look at me, I'll tear your heads off and make you look at me!"<em>

* * *

><p>"Sasori says pretty things. He should make books, not be a puppet master...writer?...Yeah, writer."<p>

The glass lens continued to stare him down. With no eyes to speak of, Deidara didn't know how he even got the feeling. Said puppet master was not currently in the vicinity, so what was the risk of taking a look?

Making his way over, he sat down and picked up the lens. Sasori had said he had been working on a puppet, a puppet supposedly related to the lens itself. Perfectly circle in shape, the convex glass made the world behind it appear to be standing on its head. Smooth, so smooth that the child took care in holding it, the risk of dropping it seemed so much more eminent, for it could slip from his hands like a piece of soap.

Sasori told him he couldn't touch it, or play with it. That guy, he wasn't so bad.

"It's like home all over again," Deidara whispered to himself.

By now, the whole 'pervert' thing seemed rather absurd. Sasori wasn't like that. Sure, at times the redhead would scold him or pull at his ear but it was for misbehaving wasn't it? Looking away from his personality, he wasn't as bland as the boy had initially thought. Sasori had ideals, real ideals. Perhaps not all of them the child agreed completely with, but it made some sense to want things to be that way, to prefer things to be that way. Life as the boy knew it could be cut down into three stages, born, live, and die. The forgotten part? Well, that was a result of all of it. Deidara had only learnt that recently, the result of it all, the fourth so-called stage of the cycle. Heck, there didn't have to be a fourth-stage, some people are forgotten for their entire lives, and they die without being forgotten, mainly because they were never remembered to begin with. Sasori-as he understood it- was the same as himself, displeased with this cycle, perhaps even a little fearful. The idea that art would be so rare as to last for eternity, it was an interesting thought, but puppets didn't last.

Puppets also followed this rule, created, used, broken, forgotten.

It was a logic that Deidara abided by wholly. At this point, it no longer bothered him. Many things came in between born and die, and he wanted to make the most of it.

Adults always thought they knew where they were going. What he didn't understand was, if they knew, why didn't they try to make the most of it? Enjoy it? Savor it? And if they were brave enough, try to bend it?

There were people he knew, who didn't go through this cycle. The dead Tsuchikages, often told of their achievements, were born, lived, died, but to this day continued to be remembered. It was admirable, to be remembered, but the last stage would eventually come, for the last part of the cycle was always bound to arrive.

Pretty things, shiny things, things like this little glass lens. It was pretty, but subject to this cycle as well.

Sasori said pretty things, but just because they were pretty didn't mean they were true. The only thing that ever lasted was change, a concept that Deidara felt, could be easily accepted. He didn't understand everything that happened around him or why, but one thing remained as obvious. It happened, and it will and does end.

Sasori must've meant something different; he couldn't truly believe that, that his puppets were any kind of example of eternity. Not even close, Deidara thought the rocks that lined unpaved paths were a better example than his puppets. He was an adult right? He had to understand this, nothing about him seemed too stupid, so such a basic concept should be easily understood.

Ah, he forgot. That was his ideal, not a truth. Ideals were for books, like the boring ones he had to read for class at home.

Well, looking away from all that, Sasori was pretty okay so far. He even seemed like he cared, something that Deidara could help but be suspicious about.

* * *

><p><em>The puppeteer's expression softened, turning from frustration to a mix of surprise and pity. "You don't have any parents?"<em>

* * *

><p><em>"Because you seem to lack something, something called manners, and until you apologize, I don't intend to let you go unless you say I'm sorry. Until then, as an adult, I'm going to hammer manners into you, until you apologize to me."<em>

* * *

><p><em>Unexpectedly, the ground seemed to close in instead of rush upwards. Slowly and carefully, the child was lowered, before he was finally plopped down gently just a foot above the ground. Deidara blinked, eyeing the segmented iron tail of Hiruko, snaking quickly back into the rear side of the puppet, disappearing underneath the strange red-clouded cloak.<em>

* * *

><p><em>"Close, I create puppets exclusively. I am a puppeteer." Sasori chortled at Deidara's puzzled expression.<em>

* * *

><p><em>"Don't run. You'll fall and get hurt." Sasori warned sternly.<em>

* * *

><p><em>Hiruko didn't reply immediately, closing its half-dead eyes and sighed, "This one's...different."<em>

* * *

><p><em>"Hurry up or you'll get lost."<em>

* * *

><p><em>"Well I'm different. I'm not nameless, I am Sasori of the Red Sand. People know that as my title. I'm far stronger than the average shinobi, and I certainly will not die at twenty-three. I don't plan on dying, not at twenty-five, or thirty-five."<em>

_"But everyone dies. My friend's grandpa died last year."_

_"Well, I won't. And I'll find a way to make that possible. I won't die, and you can trust me on that."_

* * *

><p><em>"I'm going out for a bit. Since you've been good for these past days, I'm going to trust you..."<em>

* * *

><p>It was subtle, but Deidara sensed a hint of affection in those words. Another thing he was yet to understand was why the redhead even brought himself into this. There was no need to bring him along, no need feed him with his own money or tell him to stick close in a crowd. Manners were trivial, they could easily be ignored and someone without them could be shut out if it annoyed Sasori.<p>

There's was no need to trust him to stay put. After all, he couldn't be trusted to even stay in his own village.

A shiver ran up his tiny spine, that feeling he was getting...it was familiar, a nice feeling. That feeling you get when you come home from a long day, arriving to a quiet household, allowing you to notice how much your muscles really ached. It's been a long trip from Iwa, and now it felt as if Iwa wasn't even home to begin with.

He liked it here.

"Sasori's gone. He won't know."

Promptly, Deidara shot up from his seat, smiling mischievously. His attentions turned towards the window, more specifically the cliff with giant rib bones jutting out from its surface, covered in moss and vulture nests.

_That snake thing sounds cool. Maybe I'll just explore for a bit. I'll be back before him._

Pocketing the pretty lens to look at it later, Deidara got his ninja shoes on before searching the room for his tiny sack of clay. It didn't look like the puppeteer didn't put too much effort into hiding it again, simply finding it sitting on a bundle of warm folded futon beds in the closet. It looked untouched, and the sack itself looked cleaner than it used to be. Instead of the old, crumbly dried clay and bits of dirt stuck to the cloth's rough surface, it was flexible and smelled less like a sack of soil.

Sasori must have washed it.

"Alright!"

Leaning out the window, he estimated his height from the ground. Being on the second floor, it wasn't a very far drop, the child could handle it. Sporting an excited grin, Deidara back up a few paces from the window, aiming for the next roof just across the street. His legs felt stiff, surely he needed to stretch them, and a bit of reckless fun never hurt anyone.

Yellow pupils observed the boy jump out the window, easily landing in a cat-like manner onto the next roof. The tatami mats twisted and transformed, a green venus-fly trap emerged from the floor, opening up to reveal a green-haired man, black and white skin split down the middle of his face and further down his neck.

The plant-man cocked his head, watching the blonde disappear into the distance.

**"We can't trust him. It wouldn't work out. He's too young."**

"_You're being too harsh; I think it would work out. After all, the pro's seem to outweigh the cons here. Give it time, and maybe he can stay_."

**"You want him to stay?"**

"_It's not every day a member brings a kid around, reminds me of the old days.._."

**"He's much different from him; besides, this sprout wouldn't even last in the organization. He was a genin when he came around, this one's barely that."**

"_Does rank matter at the moment? He possesses a kinjutsu, it could prove useful_."

**"On a kid like this?! Just watch, it won't be long until he dies. No child would survive as a rogue. Not alone."**

"_I wouldn't be so sure, the possibility remains_."

**"Just watch! I called it."**

"_Hm, whatever you say. Hehe.._."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Finally! We're getting somewhere! Since it's a rewrite of the original, I'm getting impatient with the arc. I just hope I don't rush it 'cause that would be a bad thing. I doubt I'll be expanding too much on Sasori's ideals anytime soon. It'll be more of a focus on Deidara's ideal/aspiration/motivation which I hope is closer to the canon because one of the reasons of making this rewrite at all is to improve Deidara's character, which I felt was really skewed from the canon. **

**If you got free time and you're bored, I have put some hints in the beginning about the rest of the plot. At Chapter 9(not including the filler chapter), I have completed about...5% of the story! That's great! I have plenty more to do...more research it is...**

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for being Beta!**

**Nice to meet you! Review if you'd like!**


	10. The Mountain's Graveyard

**The Mountain's Graveyard**

A vulture picked at the flesh of the dismembered leg, flaying it to rid of the dirty fabric. Blood was painted onto its curved beak, bits on the top crumbling and blackened from exposure to air, while bits at the end dripped.

Placing a claw onto the beginning of the strip of skin, it yanked at it, raising its wings in attempt to apply more force to the bloody piece, eventually tearing it off with a snap. The vulture hopped back onto the grass, now stained in fluid as it bobbed it's had to gulp down the section of skin it had flayed.

Soon, another avian arrived, gliding down from a distance in the sky to land near the limb, recognizing the presence of another vulture. Feathers fluffed up as both scavengers squawked at each other, flapping their wings in attempt at intimidation before finally settling with sharing, one continuing to feast on the thigh as the other one made a start for the toe, pecking at it curiously.

"Hsss..."

The sound caused both birds to look up, both staring with a weary look as something scaly slithered nearby in the undergrowth. Another moment passed, a scaly indigo nose finally poked out from the bush, tongue flicking.

"Hsss..."

Shrill sounds came from the vultures, puffing up their feathers, beaks snapping to try and ward off the newcomer, however failing as the giant's head finally slithered out from its hiding place, revealing a giant snake, blue in color. It raised its head high above the raptors, sheer size of the skull comparable to a large dog in height and length.

The rest of its body pulled out from the forest, causing flocks of birds and other animals to retreat, either disappearing into the flora or escaping into the clouds. The two vultures back off, hopping off the human leg, only able to watch as their meal was snapped up and swallowed, gone from sight after a few seconds.

* * *

><p>"That is big..."<p>

Deidara eyed the giant rat skull, hollow socket staring back. Buck teeth dug into the soil, bits of moss already clinging to the cracks and fissures in the bone. The very nose of the rodent's head was equal height to himself, making it possible for it to stare face to face with the child. The notion itself that a rat this size existed once seemed inconceivable.

_That's a lot of cheese._

Even then as large as the rodent was, the boy knew it was a still a small rat, a tiny rat in a forest. Compared to the large rib bones scattered throughout the area, the rat was an ant. Deidara smiled a little at the thought. This rat may very well be the largest rat to have ever existed, but compared to the other bones around here, it was a bug, an insect. Even with real world animals, rats and mice always proved to be superior in size to the typical bug. What was a funny was the notion that a rat could be so big, yet so small.

Turning away, Deidara continued further into the forest, enjoying the freedom he had to explore. Sasori wasn't as a bad as he had first thought, but it didn't mean he enjoyed sticking around.

The time would come eventually, when the two would go their separate paths. Surely a shinobi like the puppeteer wouldn't last trying to keep the boy within his grasp, and the blonde wasn't too keen on being present when that event happens. Sasori didn't seem to be driven at the moment, not by orders or any mission that the boy could comprehend or detect. He was safe for now, but no matter how many pretty things the redhead would speak of, the puppet master was a danger in itself. Deidara had long thrown away the idea to freak out the other with his hands, deciding it after a few days that it was probably best he hadn't chosen such an action. Chances are, it would prove as a mistake, and Deidara would get in trouble, big trouble.

Pouch in hand, he pulled on the blue ribbon, revealing a unique sculpture on the inside. Taken out the pouch, the child marveled at his new creation, made from a good portion of his supply of clay. A horrid expression was molded onto its face, hollow mouth and eyes were wide as if screaming from intense pain. The face was round, though slightly pointed in the back of its head. Two flat arms lay crossed over each other, rounded over a legless torso.

It was rough, but it was first so Deidara wasn't too disappointed with the results of his efforts. Different in style from the other bugs and birds he made on a daily basis, inspired by the looks he sometimes received from those who insulted his art.

Holding it up into the air, the sculpture blocked the sun, giving it an ethereal appearance. A simple, yet powerful sculpture, capable of destroying much more than the mere few meters his typical ones could destroy. The sculpture wasn't pointless either, it was a safety measure, just in case a certain animal were to appear.

"If that snake shows up, I'll destroy it," Deidara grinned confidently. In this forest, few things could hurt him. The occasional bear or fox weren't anything to be feared, a tiny explosion would do to scare one away, more concerned with its own life than killing its attacker. A snake would be larger, but size made little difference in train of thought.

Putting away the sculpture, the boy carelessly continued.

Walking into a clearing, Deidara blinked, surprised to see another individual like himself staring up at the bones. The same beige cloak as before, this man was easily familiar.

* * *

><p><em>A tall man, definitely not Sasori loomed near him. Robed in a beige cloak with no sleeves, the man also wore a hood that covered most of his head and forehead. The adult seemed be around his twenties, stubble forming around his chin with tired and bagged eyes. For a moment, the man had glanced fiercely with daggers at Deidara, causing the boy to shut his mouth. However, the stare quickly lost its intensity, but in a way that the child found impossible to read as any emotion he knew of.<em>

* * *

><p>"You again."<p>

The man tensed, glancing at the child with that same tired look in his eyes, however holding more life to them than they did before. Deidara's mouth was set in a thin line, nervously glaring at the stranger. His hood was off, revealing short light brown hair. The man gave him a questioning look.

"First you're in that other village, now you're here. What do you want?" Deidara raised his voice slightly, fearing bubbling within him.

"Hm?" The question seemed to have went over the man's head, a moment of delay before he seemed to finally recognize the child, "Hey! You're that kid from before! The blind one!"

"I'm not blind!" The child snapped, following after with a pout, "People shouldn't stand at corners like that, I couldn't see you. Whatever, why are you following me!?"

Again, the question was avoided, "To be completely honest, I'm looking for someone. Besides that, what's a kid like you doing here? Aren't you following that Akatsuki guy?"

"Aka-Akatsu-...Akatsuki?"

The words came out faintly, a completely new word to the boy. Recognizing the confused look, the stranger attempted to explain, "You know, that cloaked guy, with red clouds on his outfit."

"Sasori? Wait, 'dawn' guy? What's a 'dawn' guy?" Deidara narrowed his eyes.

"The Akatsuki. They're an organization made up of criminals. What? You were following that guy and didn't know he belonged to the Akatsuki? That's their uniform."

All fear subsided, leaving the blonde curious. For a while now, he had wondered why Sasori had insisted on wearing such a strange getup. Not that it looked too bad, it even looked a little cool, but it wasn't just everyday wear, he made Hiruko wear it as well, to which the reason for doing so still eluded the child.

"Wait, so...Sasori's a bad guy?"

"Phew!" The man suddenly seemed vigilant; glancing around to make sure no one else was around. Turning back to the kid, he approached and whispered, "You know, it's probably best you leave that guy."

"I know that, but why? Sasori's nice, when he wants to be." Deidara huffed on the last sentence, crossing his arms.

"Okay, he may _seem_ nice, but he isn't nice all the time, right?"

"Do you know Sasori? Are you his friend?"

"No, no, I'm not his friend, but he shouldn't be yours either."

The tone was serious. Despite not really understanding the situation, the child picked up the urgent feeling, keeping silent to let the man continue.

"He looks different from his picture in the bingo book, but assuming you're talking about the same guy, Sasori's name is listed in there."

"The bingo book? That's the black book with criminals in it, right? So, you're following Sasori?"

"Erm, not exactly, I already told you, I'm looking for someone. But anyways, you shouldn't really be following around a guy like that, he's dangerous. One wrong move and he might just kill you. And if my sources are correct, he's a puppeteer who turns people into puppets, so he might just do that to you!"

"Hm...you sound really serious...I guess I could." Deidara nodded in agreement. He had been thinking of ways to escape Sasori, but he had been sticking around just for the heck of it so far. With this new information, it definitely added more weight to his situation.

But Sasori didn't seem so bad of a guy. Being completely honest with himself, the child was actually beginning to like him. Then again, the idea of being turned into a puppet didn't seem all that pleasing.

* * *

><p><em>"Then, Master Sasori, what'dya have a kid around for? He your new subject?"<em>

_That word again...The blonde squinted his eyes suspiciously. Subject?_

* * *

><p>Subject...that might be...Deidara hummed, trying to make a decision. He was never one to completely trust adults, but this one seemed serious. It wasn't a threat for detention or something like that; death was actually involved for once.<p>

"Hmm...fine, I'll go. But I want to explore first!" The blonde walked around the man, immediately sucked up in his own thoughts.

"Wait!"

A sudden tug on his collar caused the child to flinch, a squeak escaping his lips. Turning around to reprimand the stranger, Deidara opened his mouth to yell, however shutting up immediately at the sight of fingerless gloves.

_Those are...no way, he can't be._ The boy shook his head to rid of the lingering thought. _The chance is too low, it's probably not..._

"Didn't you hear? There's a giant snake around here, ate two civilians off the path. I'm not lettin' you run around on your own."

"I can take care of myself! Let me go!" Deidara hissed, struggling in the man's grasp.

"If you're so insistent on exploring, I'm going with you."

"Eh?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks to Anniegirl132 for being my Beta! **

**It's nice to meet you all! Please review if you'd like!**


	11. Bird Hunt Begin!

**Bird Hunt Begin!**

_Hm, I'll probably come by later and see if he comes..._

It's been a little over an hour now the last time the puppeteer checked. If he hadn't messed up on connecting the joints earlier, he would have had at least ten minutes to spare, but now he just hoped Deidara had stayed obedient, or had not noticed the time at all. He just needed some new tools, the older ones having been worn from the years of constant work they had been stressed into. One of his puppets had particularly weak joints, only capable of holding together for a couple of seconds before it yielded to gravity.

By now, he was wondering when the message would come, the wait had been far too long to his liking. Sasori had remembered specifically that they had agreed to meet up last week and if he failed to do so, word of why would come within a few days afterwards if not sooner. Absence with no explanation. The redhead's lips curled into a faint smile.

_Maybe he died._

Rice hat discarded, Sasori gazed freely at the room numbers without the obstruction of the long white cloth at the corners of his vision. Eventually, the familiar digits came up.

* * *

><p>"Ew...what's that?"<p>

The child held his nose, face scrunched up in disgust at the rotting animal corpse before them. Flies flew about the decaying flesh, already deep red in color, dotted with bits of dirt and larvae wriggling amongst each other. The short brown matted fur was infested with insects, eating away at the surface of the body, revealing rib bones now pure white.

Jirou-as he called himself- took a glance at the corpse, "That's a bear."

"A bear? How do you know that?"

"Look at the skull, it's too thick to be a dog, but the snout is too short to be a fox and too long to be a cougar. The body is too big to be anything else in this forest, save for the occasional summoning animal. Looks like an adult to me."

Deidara blinked, "What could kill a bear?"

"Who knows?" Jirou shrugged before grinning in a creepy manner, causing the boy to jump, "Maybe it's that snake we've been hearing about..."

The child stood frozen for a second, thinking about the possibility of the snake showing up again. Surely if it killed a bear of this size, it would be powerful.

"All the more reason to get moving. Come on, I've found a cool place."

Agreeably, the blonde followed the man deeper in the forest. Earlier, Jirou had claimed that he had good knowledge of this forest, having been waiting here for a while for some comrades to show up. Even then as he waited patiently, they never showed up, and Jirou had been wondering what happened to them. Besides that, Deidara didn't really care about his comrades, but more that no matter where they went in the forest, they could explore freely without getting lost. By now, the boy had stopped keeping track of the path, more focused on his surroundings.

A new area opened up, attentions turned away from the giant skulls scattered throughout the graveyard. Deidara found himself at a wall-like structure, seemingly made from numerous rib bones, much smaller than that of the ones he saw jutting out from the ground above the cliff. The rib bones seemed to curve inwards from the spine far above Jirou's height, the space inside filled with dirt and rock, as if someone had taken the time to fill in the rib cage with earth. Of course, the tiny sculptor recognized it couldn't have been possible, for moss and vine had already wrapped around the rib cage in patches. This was not man-made, not from what he could see.

He followed the older around the skeleton, skimming around the sides until a break in the rib cage was visible. From the damage done, Deidara could only conclude that something broke the spine, splitting the giant serpentine creature in two, killing it ultimately. Spinal disks above their heads were cracking, while the two hopped over a fallen spinal disk wedged into the gap. If the boy hadn't thought more, he would've thought it was a rock.

Walking into the new area was like walking into an arena, accept, it wasn't an arena. A gigantic empty space sat within the circular death pose of the giant serpent, which Deidara now realized was a giant serpentine lizard, some limbs visible fallen onto the ground near the giant skull.

The sight was breathtaking, a naturally made stadium, just without the seats.

"Hmm...not here either..."

Jirou's murmur caused Deidara to raise a brow, "What are you looking for?"

"The others...they didn't show up."

Deidara watched as the man sighed heavily and walked further into the arena. The short conversation caused another question to pop up in his mind, a question he had earlier but didn't get a chance to ask.

"Jirou."

"What?" Said man seemed to snap, but the child didn't notice the tone.

"I think when you said that you were looking for someone and that you were waiting for friends; you were talking about different stuff. So, if that's true, who are you looking for?"

A reply didn't come immediately, instead, a silence grew. Deidara squinted his eyes, protecting them slightly against the wind that blew freely inside the arena. The man seemed to ponder the question, then chuckled a little. Soon enough, Jirou turned around, a wide insane smirk on his face accompanied by wide eyes, slightly shaking.

"You."

* * *

><p>The door slid open; Sasori didn't even take a glance in, slipping off his ninja shoes and placing them at the entrance behind the raised floor. Closing the entrance behind him, he placed the plastic tools by the dresser, not too concerned at the moment with taking them out to lay by his work area.<p>

...

It's quiet. Sasori scanned their room, only now realizing that the window was left wide open. Refusing to make a quick assumption, the puppeteer called out, "Brat!"

...

_Don't tell me..._

With an agitated groan, the puppet master made sure to shut the window first before slipping back on his ninja shoes. It was time to start the search. Sasori's first thought was the docks or the crystal shop they didn't visit despite the child's constant please to go in. He could worry about unpacking and working later. His little trek back to the rendezvous could wait until tomorrow. For now, the little brat was his first priority.

* * *

><p>"Me? That doesn't make sense, you already found me. You're still looking for someone right?" Deidara backed off slightly, only to pause when the man jerked his movement, a mock attack.<p>

"Sorry, but my search was over the moment you arrived."

Jirou smirked, shuffling within his cloak. The action was barely noticeable to the child, who only detected the first signs of danger when his hands began to move involuntarily. The familiar feeling of a sticky liquid dripped from his fingertips, wriggling desperately, something wet just barely touching his fingertips as his arm hung casually at his side. Deidara furrowed his eyebrows, still not quite understanding of the situation. His hands could wait a little longer, no point being scared when he doesn't know what's threatening him.

"Now, I want you to show me something. The power you possess!" Jirou raised his hands into the air to emphasize, revealing the garb underneath.

A light brown flak jacket worn over a red outfit, a single red bell-cuff sleeve covering his entire left arm while the bare one wore a headband tied around it, metal piece depicting two rocks, one larger sitting behind the smaller one. A darker red fabric covered his right leg down to just below the knee. Deidara's eyes widened, heart-rate increasing slowly. That uniform, he knew it. He used to see it all the time.

The Iwagakure Shinobi uniform.

Distracted by the sudden new identity of the Jirou himself, Deidara failed to notice a navy blue ball being thrown against the floor.

_POOF_

* * *

><p>"Damn brat, making me look for him."<p>

Sasori grumbled, making his way to the staircase just outside the gates. The guards were absent, it being lunch-break at the moment for them.

It was a guess, but not far-fetched either. The blonde wasn't present by the docks or at the crystal shop, and no one having seen him either. Even then as the puppeteer threatened them ever-slightly that if they should lie...well, no body had seen him, and that was the point.

Passerby's however did claim to see the boy, running off on his own almost unnoticed by the crowd due to his small size and ease slithering through the masses of people around at this hour. Deidara seemed to have headed this way, just back the way they came, though the direction he was running in at the time could have changed, perhaps becoming interested in something else. Due to the sweet time Sasori took getting back, he could only curse himself at the thought that with every minute wasted, the kid was probably further and further off.

He was an annoying bundle of energy, which the puppeteer began to seriously question his own reasons for worrying at all. Days have passed and the feeling didn't go away, even after he left the village and arrived at the village where he found the boy, the feeling clung to him like a piece of duct tape, no, more like a stain, a stubborn stain.

Perhaps it was his impatience with his partner, who didn't show up at the agreed time. Perhaps he had gotten used to company and wanted someone to stick around. No, that couldn't be it; after all, he took amusement into the thought of his partner's death. He was over thinking it, which was the probable answer. However lingering thoughts failed to leave his mind about his previous mission. It was his first war assignment, but the effects still hung about. Deidara was most likely the result of that, but the fact that his behavior an unusual was even clear to the child, though Sasori doubted that he was acting out of character.

The zig-zag stairs awaited him, metal railings slightly rusted due to the lack of maintenance.

"_What'cha doing_?"

A high-pitched voice asked. Sasori turned to the plant man, eyes devoid of fear. The other was of no danger to him, simply put, an observer. His questions could be tolerated.

"So you were sticking around huh? Zetsu?"

"**We saw it all, even before you got here.** _If you have to ask, the sprout did come this way_, **but I have a question I want to pose to you**."

"Make it quick," The puppeteer started up the steps, slowly gaining levels up the wall of the cliff.

Zetsu merged into the ground, leaving the path as if it was never moved. A ways above the puppeteer, he popped out from the wall, staring down with it's dual-colored face. Like this, he wouldn't have to follow the Akatsuki, just ask from his position by the middle of the steps.

"_What made you choose this boy_? **Is it because of his kinjutsu?"**

"Kinjutsu? What are you talking about?" Sasori paused, watching as Zetsu snickered at the question.

"**You don't know?**_ That's a shame, to think something so obvious could have been hidden from the infamous Sasori of the Red Sand, by a mere child."_

"You gonna explain or what?" The puppeteer raised his voice impatiently, displeased.

"**Watch it.** _Have you ever seen his palms up close? We have_."

"Never," Then again, the brat was rather keen on hiding them. I've never seen him wash his hands, not in front of me, "Why? What's the big deal?"

"_Hehe, well, you'll find out_. **But you better hurry up, or his remains will be too messed up to recognize any part of his body."**

"What-"

_BOOM_

An explosion sounded, creating a gigantic dust cloud even visible from the stairs. Sasori clung to the rail, sensing dangerous vibrations from the cliff that hinted that it may fall. A chatter grew amongst the villagers, all looking towards the direction of the blast.

"The hell was that!?"

"**It's already started;** _you're a few seconds late. I thought you didn't like to keep others waiting."_

"Wait, are you telling me the brat is over there!?"

"_That's what the others are_ saying**(1)**. **Get a move on, it looks like he's in trouble.** _There's a duel going on approximately 700 meters from here_."

"Dammit! What's going on?"

* * *

><p>Deidara emerged from the cloud, running across the side of the wall. He grit his teeth, he didn't expect this to happen. Jirou wasn't trustworthy after all, and now he'd have to deal with it.<p>

That explosion, no doubt about it, the man was part of the Explosion Corps, for the boy hadn't heard the sizzle of an explosive tag. Scaling the rib cage, the boy jumped onto the spine of the lizard, standing up to get a good look at the damage caused. A good portion of the spine was gone, now a big cloud of dust remained, blowing in the wind.

"This isn't good...why didn't you tell me!" Deidara yelled at his hands, simply earning silence as a response.

_He's probably a chunin or jounin, that was a big boom_. The child fell back into the undergrowth of the trees outside the snake skeleton arena. He may of have been young, but he wasn't stupid. Combat was nothing like math or history, for quick decisions were the only thing that mattered. Deidara never knew himself to excel in those fields, but he knew how to fight, from a distance that was.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Winter breaks ending! NOoo! Once school starts again, I'll probably get back to the regular schedule of one or two chapters a week(weekends and Wednesdays). **

**(1) Zetsu(Mainly Jozetsu or 'White Zetsu') was born in the Mountain's Graveyard. The 'others' that he is referring to are the other 'Zetsu's' that are around, or well, synthetic-beings. During Obito's backstory, Zetsu is able to communicate with these 'others' and relay information about Rin and Kakashi's situation leading up to Rin's death. This ability is not all that important to the plot, so I can tell ya that much.**

**Things you may want to know:**

**Unlike the original one I wrote, much of the future story isn't going to be hinted towards due to timeline stuff. Sasori is currently 23 and human(I will explain soon) and Deidara will be eight very soon in the fanfic as of so far. I saw the Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Revolution cut scenes months ago but I couldn't confirm what I could use and could consider filler until a while later. The arc I have right now will be focused on Deidara, Sasori, and some other Iwagakure characters. **

**Jirou/Jiro means "Two and son" but the reason for that was in the original. In the rewrite...well, his name doesn't really serve much of a purpose anymore to his character. Either way, I actually just needed an extra Iwa character to work with but all the canon ones already have a planned roll in the plot. I actually don't like making OC's but I needed one to work with as an antagonist(Don't worry, everyone will die eventually). **

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for being my Beta!**

**Nice to meet you! Happy New Year! Please Review if you'd Like!**


	12. Distant Cry

**Distant Cry**

Deidara landed on a thick branch, kneeling on it make his outline as small as possible. His heart beat against his chest, at a rate that the boy couldn't even count. Immediately, the child knew, he had to go back. He needed to find Sasori.

Sasori was a good idea, he could fight Jirou.

Sasori was safe.

Giving a good glance around him, the child reminded himself that he had stopped keeping track of his surroundings. The Iwa ninja had claimed to know the forest well and when he lulled him into that false sense of security, he could strike. It wasn't as if the blonde hadn't anticipated that something like this might happen after he left Iwa. Turning a blind eye was the problem, the entire time; he tried to tell himself that it wouldn't happen and that as long as he had this, he could fight anyone.

_I'm not gonna use it, he's too strong..._

Deidara sighed; it was a risky move he was planning. Revealing himself wouldn't be a good idea for obvious reasons, but the treetops were the only place he could go to get an idea of where he was going. To wander and be pursued aimlessly was a death wish, and the blonde preferred having some sort of sense of direction right now.

"It's all I got..," The boy murmured to himself, staring at the clouds above visible from leaves. It was silent now.

_Maybe he left._

Shooting up from his kneeling position, the child took a few deep breathes to prepare himself. Mustering up courage, Deidara scaled the tree, jumping from branch to branch until the limbs of the trunk began to thin before finally balancing himself onto a thin part of the tree. The swaying ensued, giving the child a scare before stability settled. Slowly, he got up, careful not to make any bigger movements.

The forest was endless in one direction, but upon carefully turning the other way, Deidara felt a ray of hope at the sight of the village in the distance. The large circular gap gave way to familiar houses and boats along the shore.

_BOOM_

A sudden explosion blew up the forest behind him, tearing up the dense woodland as if a giant had charged through. Twisting midair, the boy paled, the sight of a black gloved hand with Jirou's excited grinning face in the background, just a few inches away. The sudden movement pent the tree, dropping him backwards.

"I GOT YOU!"

He felt the fabric of the glove enclose his face.

_BOOM_

* * *

><p><em>BOOM<em>

"That's another one," Sasori sprinted in the direction of the explosions. It was a help really that the blasts were so noticeable. Like this, he didn't have to follow faint tracks or keep an eye out for signs of a fight.

_Explosive nature chakra, if I recall, it was a trademark of the Iwagakure military force. But those blasts...those are too big. The brat's never made any explosion this big, not that I know of._

Sasori quickly paused, having seen a flash of something barely visible. Backtracking a small distance, the puppeteer's gaze fell on a smear of blood on a tree trunk. Immediately, something twisted in his gut.

That couldn't have been...no...

To confirm his suspicions, the redhead raised his hand to touch the blood, a relief washing over him at the realization that it was dry and crumbling. Due to the low visibility of the forest, he couldn't quite tell the color of the blood. It was probably days old, perhaps from an animal of some kind was injured here. It was highly probable that it didn't belong to Deidara.

_No point in staring._

"Halt!"

Hm? Sasori glanced over his shoulder nonchalantly, only to find ninja surrounding him left and right. The red color of their uniforms told him they were Iwagakure ninja. The leader stepped out and pointed a sword in the redhead's direction, "We can tell from you're cloak, you're an Akatsuki."

The puppeteer turned and smiled confidently, "Nice observation. What about it?"

"The Akatsuki are all listed in our Bingo book. Your members hold high bounties, though I don't recognize your face from any of the pictures. We're on a different mission, but we cannot ignore the threat you pose."

"Shinobi rule number four: A shinobi must always put the mission first. I'm guessing you weren't taught that rule."

A vein throbbed in the leader's head.

"Akatsuki! You are under arrest for-"

The leader was interrupted, a low hiss. It wasn't a regular hiss, not like that of a small rattle snake or cat, no, this one was far louder. Panic spread throughout the air; however Sasori stayed oblivious to it, simply watching and observing as the scene played out.

A huge animal emerged from the bush, earning the scream of another shinobi, having become caught in the reptile's jaws. The blue snake clamped its mouth shut, swallowing the human in a single bite. Lifting its head, the snake towered above the other shinobi, flicking it's tongue in acknowledgement of Sasori before turning it's attentions back to the other ninja.

It was a clean feast; no blood had been spilled as each Iwa nin was swallowed whole. The leader had tried calling out orders, but it was obvious that the reptile's hide was resistant to any attack. Sasori continued to watch from his spot near the blood smear.

"Hsss..."

* * *

><p>"Hmm...I went too hard..." Jirou frowned.<p>

Landing onto a flat rib bone, the man turned to watch as the tiny remnants of his victim fell from the sky, bits of smoke coming off the pieces.

_CLUNK_

_CLUNK_

_CLU-CLUNK_

"What?" The Iwa-nin expression turned to shock, staring at the bits of burnt wood left on the ground. Children were obviously not made of wood, meaning only one more thing.

"A substitution!?"

* * *

><p><em>Aw man!<em> Deidara gasped, giving another weary look around the area. Leaning himself against a tree, the child panted with heavy breaths, heart pounding. That was close, had he not remembered the jutsu he learned in the academy...

He shook his head, no, he couldn't be thinking about that. It was over.

"Where the hell is he!?"

Maybe not.

Oh no! Instinctively, the boy ducked into a bush, ignoring the sharp branches that tugged at his hair. His hands jerked, more and more clear liquid dripping from his fingers accompanied by small sounds, gibberish.

"_Shhh_!" Angrily, he clenched his hands into fists, muffling them.

He sat still, a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. The view was obscured, but it all he needed to see Jirou curse and mumble to himself above. Hopping off the rib, the Iwa nin discarded his cloak, throwing it to the side to increase mobility.

Jirou searched the area with calculating eyes, knowing his prey couldn't have gotten far. Deidara watched anxiously, trying to silence his breath. As the man approached, the child pressed his body against the ground, caring little for the condition of his clothes. The idea of being blown up didn't sound too pleasant. He planned on living a good ten more or so years.

_Please don't see me! Please don't see me!_

Hope began to fade as the shinobi got closer, until the very fibers of his pants were clear to the eye. The child held his breath, visible eye staring, face growing red from the lack of oxygen. Jirou gave a last look around, cursing again before turning for another direction, bounding off opposite from the Village of Ink.

_He left?_ Deidara wasn't quick to assume, counting to ten before he quit balling up his fists. They were calm now, simply slobbering all over his palms as usual with lazy movements.

He's gone! "Hah!"

The child gasped desperately for air, pausing abruptly to spit out bits of dirt. Slowly, he got up, still bent over as he crept out from the bush, testing the waters slightly to make sure that he was safe. Glancing upwards, Deidara noticed a squirrel stare at him from a nearby tree, seemingly relaxed beforehand. The sight was comforting.

Emerging completely, the boy bowed his head, limply allowing his arms to droop from his shoulders.

"Hah! That was close!"

Straightening himself, the child held out his hands, palms faced downwards as sticky goo dripped freely. Disgusting, but he had to get used to it. Even then, with the power he had now, he wasn't too sure he was confident enough. Was it really worth the risk? Getting into a fight?

_I'm just a...kid...I can't fight him...even with this...I don't have to fight anyway. I won't risk it. I'm not fighting that._

* * *

><p><em>In one swift movement, the blonde child was quickly thrown up to a nearby wall, body making a ragdoll motion upon impact. The puppeteer held no mercy as he directed Hiruko's hand to intervene the child's fall towards the ground, grasping his neck and pinning him. As the little boy struggled to take a breath, Hiruko's head was drawn close, a dark expression shown to express his anger.<em>

* * *

><p>"Sasori can fight him. Sasori's strong," Deidara pondered to himself.<p>

* * *

><p><em>"...You shouldn't really be following around a guy like that, he's dangerous. One wrong move and he might just kill you. And if my sources are correct, he's a puppeteer who turns people into puppets, so he might just do that to you!"<em>

* * *

><p>Jirou's dangerous too now.<p>

Well, knowing that, it was probably best not to stick around. Turning in the desired direction, Deidara bounded off.

* * *

><p><em>The explosions...<em>

"They stopped."

Sasori paused, tilting his head towards the sky. It had been silent for far too long. Had the battle ended?

Had Deidara died?

Thoughts whirled around in his mind, questions relating to the events that he had missed. Dammit, had he not left the inn today, the redhead wouldn't have been in this mess to begin with.

Kinjutsu.

Iwa Ninja.

It didn't require a genius to figure out what the squad was here for. Kinjutsu's were banned techniques, usually falling under one or more of three categories to be called a Kinjutsu at all. The first category had to do with the user's life. Be it the technique harmed the user's life, the jutsu would banned. The second had to do with violating the laws of nature, though the topic itself was rather general. The last being total destruction, collateral damage capable of destroying objects within vast amounts of land. Be it the jutsu fell under even one of those three categories, the person would no doubt face consequences.

He's seen it before, a ninja stealing a forbidden jutsu and being pursued by those ordered to kill him. The only problem with the whole thing here was that Deidara was a just a boy, barely ten years old. The very idea was preposterous, that a mere child could get his hands on a kinjutsu. Sasori couldn't believe, he wouldn't believe it, not until he saw it with his own two eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This chapter was actually supposed to be longer but I had trouble finding a place to end the chapter without having too much in one. I know the story might be a little stale at the moment(assuming you read the original) but I do have something new coming along! I just have to get there is all. **

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for checking over this chapter!**

**It's nice to meet you all! Please review if you'd like!**


	13. Nameless Grave

**Nameless Grave**

_"How was the academy today?"_

_"Okay..."_

_"Hm? What did you make there?"_

_"A butterfly."_

_"May I see it? It's awfully pretty!"_

_"...Sensei didn't like it."_

_"Well I think it's beautiful! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, not even your sensei!"_

* * *

><p><em>(Naruto Shippuden Movie 6 OST Track 31 - Nine tails vs. Black Nine tails)<em>

His mind wandered. Those words were a source of comfort at the time, the way they strengthened him, made him believe there was a world ahead of him that others were unaware of and could never comprehend.

They didn't bring comfort this time, not in the current situation.

The path ahead was still fairly endless, trees and thick branches obscured the child's view, but it didn't matter. At the moment, Jirou was oblivious to his position, and it was probably best this way. Regardless of how much he wanted it, things could not go back, not to the way there were before. The crib of Iwa had long since been abandoned, and with the acts that he had committed, it was but a long stride forward into the unknown. It was the train of thought that Iwa was pulling him downwards.

Hands began to jerk suddenly, forcing him into a stop on the ground the moment a thin glint of light briefly revealed itself.

"Now what?"

Suspiciously, Deidara narrowed his eyes, standing up to try and get the light to show itself again, a thin line, glaring off a bit of sunlight. Deciding to investigate, the boy advanced slowly, threads somewhat loosely strung came into view.

_Traps._

Cocking his head at a different angle, many more threads and wires came into view, decorating the forest in an erratic manner. There were more than some, each one seemingly weaving the entire forest ahead of him. It was no wonder the area here was strangely devoid of wild life.

"Ugh...this sucks...," Deidara groaned, feeling the slight twitch of his palms, "Doesn't look like there's another way around either..."

_I could just blow it up...but Jirou might come..._

Well, he could try something else.

Stiffly, the child continued, making his first advancement in a large gap clear of any visible threads. Holding his arm out, Deidara leaned it against a tree trunk, using it hold his weight. Eyes were glued to the earth below him, critical of any thin lines that my appear in his path. Tentatively, he took the first step, firmly planting it onto the ground.

The blonde smiled.

_I can do this._

The second step, and another; one more step...

Soon enough, Deidara found himself in a strange pose: back arched to avoid a thread shooting across his chest; another wire behind his feet threatening to make contact with his legs. One arm raised in the air to avoid a string by his elbow, other hand pressed against the same tree trunk.

Quivering in the spot, the child struggled remain still, analyzing his surroundings, contemplating his next move.

_I'll just avoid the wire there and move my arm through here..._

"Ugh..," Vigilantly, he pulled back right his arm, steadying his body to the left to allow himself as much room as possible.

_SQUAWK_

_SQUAWK_

_SQUAWK_

"Eh!?"

In a rush, Deidara snapped his head towards the sound of fleeing birds; only then realizing something thin tug loosely at his arm.

The seconds that delayed the kunai's were the boy's saving grace, immediately bounding to a higher branch, observing as five knives planted themselves into the ground. A silence settled, allowing the boy to clearly count his own heart beats.

Whoa.., the boy leaned forward to take a closer look. The bright glare of another wire stopped him, breath hitching as he realized he nearly caught the thread by his neck. A gleaming bead of sweat rolled down his temple; Deidara backing up smartly to not get himself strangled.

Again, his hands wriggled. Angrily, the blonde muffled them while hissing, "No one saw or heard! Be quiet!"

"I saw."

"!"

The grinning face of Jirou loomed over his shoulder, breath now loudly audible in the child's ear. Be it stayed still out of shock, the boy would indeed have been dead within the next few dozen seconds; but he wasn't finished yet.

With the flick of the wrist, the thread was pulled harshly by Deidara, causing a snapping sound to be heard. Immediately after, a large cylinder shaped object came swinging towards them. a giant log tied to a rope smashed through the brush, a red bordered explosive tag visibly attached to the front. Acting quickly, the boy jumped out of the way knowing full-well what would happen with a trap like that. Once on the ground, he ducked behind a tree and pulled his head under is arms, awaiting impact with eyes tightly closed.

_BOOM_

The explosion shook the ground, a surge of heat tingling at Deidara's sides. Eyes opened and skin paled slightly.

The landscape his left had been completely wiped out, as if a deity had taken its finger and ran across the earth to leave a giant scar of singed dirt. Trees were decimated; all life within the single straight line had been deleted and replaced with ashes. Looking further down the destruction, the line had even run through the old bones of the lizard, leading into the arena.

"This is...this isn't..," Deidara found himself murmuring to himself, mouth barely agape at the scene before him. This was not the power of a regular explosion; barely.

"Too bad kid..."

_He's alive?_ He glanced back, caring little that he had probably revealed his location.

Jirou staggered from his spot on the branches, arm raised with a light smoke rising from his burnt glove. The cloth was burnt to a crisp, the area inside the palm being completely obliterated at the force of the blast. It seemed as if Jirou had taken no damage; the log simply putting him off balance was all.

"But I won't get killed by my own trap anytime soon."

Without haste, Jirou hopped off the branch. No sooner than he had reached the ground did he discard his mangled glove. "You know, they say that these things were made to subdue Explosive Chakra, but I guess it wasn't made to subdue blasts of that size eh?"

The Iwa ninja stepped forward, sparking a flash of fear in Deidara who quickly got up stiffly to face the other. Jirou smirked, amused by the reaction. With each step, the boy backed up. There were few placed to hide now, for the blonde was in plain sight. Jirou continued to pace forward, slowly increasing his speed. Accordingly, the child responded with simply distancing himself. Running into the cover of the trees seemed pointless at the moment, for if the Iwa ninja wanted to, he could easily blow the forest to bits to find the child.

Walking became running within the span of a few short seconds. An all out pursuit was drawn out, Deidara dashed unknowingly towards the arena, eyes wide, heart thrumming, thoughts fogged by fear. A quick glance back was his saving grace, ducking under a kick before jumping away, regaining his distance.

"You're fast! Pretty good!"

Seeing as there was a good three or so meters between them, the child made a brave attempt at offence, throwing two bug sculptures in Jirou's direction. Mid-way into the detonating seal, Deidara watched hopelessly as both sculptures were blown up once caught, quickly destroyed in the grasp of the Iwa ninja. His sculptures were useless.

Jirou pursued the child, swiping a kunai only to miss. Deidara's eyes were peeled, observing with a calculating gaze at each of his opponents moves. The fight drew on, leading the pair closer and closer to the arena. Dodging another kick, the blonde wavered to catch his breath, a sharp pain slicing through his cheek. The battlefield became blurry, a dizziness coming over Deidara as exhaustion began to take over. Warm liquid dripped down his face, yet he scarcely noticed.

_THWACK_

The next moment was a blur, pain originated in his upper abdomen, filling his senses. Another far more excruciating pain nearly knocked the wind out him, a hard surface making contact with the child's cranium and spine. Deidara hissed, sliding down whatever he hit onto the floor.

He had to get up, he needed to get away. But his damn head...it suddenly hurt so much, as if it was about to split open.

Recklessly, Deidara tried to soothe the pain, involuntarily grunting painfully at his attempt. Forcing his eyes open, he glared at his arm, now seemingly numb and sore. It didn't feel dislocated, but all that running around and dodging must have taken its toll. The boy's sight was blurry, hand coming into and out of focus. Upon it, a mouth snapped its teeth at him, tongue occasionally lolling in and out. Even that mouth felt dry. Deidara gulped hesitantly, face scrunching up at the iron-tasting blood burning his throat.

"Ugh..."

_I'm too tired...moving hurts..._

Footsteps became audible; it didn't take a genius to figure out who it was. Surely a shinobi of his strength could easily have killed the blonde then and there, but it seemed that Jirou was taking his time.

Frustration and fear swirled in Deidara's mind, raspy breath barely helping him cope. Liquid dripped from his mouth, falling from his chin. Self-centered anger boiled, but the boy could do little to throw a tantrum at his decisions, not in his miserable physical state.

"Well now, was I mistaken? Or are you not the kid I was looking for?"

A rough tug at his collar dragged his body up the rocky wall. Deidara attempted to make a weak glare, but the look was immediately extinguished by the discouraged look on Jirou's face.

"Tch...disappointing."

The Iwa ninja grabbed the child's arm, pulling it up to sight to reveal a mouth frowning in the middle of the seven-year old's palm. Jirou inspected it for a moment, as if looking for any errors or other unwanted features.

"Yup, you're the brat. You got the mouths, but I guess it's pretty useless to have on someone so weak. What a waste," The man paused to glance up at the sky thoughtfully, "All this noise and the others _still_ haven't shown up."

Promptly, the ninja loosened his grasp, letting his captor fall cruelly onto the floor. Deidara let out an agonized yelp as his head hit the wall once again.

"Hmm...maybe I should try something different..," Jirou tapped his chin. Breathing a deep sigh, he knelt down to Deidara's level, looking him in the eye.

"I guess it runs in the family doesn't it? To die without anyone knowing. Ha! I remember that one mission I went on a few months ago actually! It was top secret so nobody but those involved could know about it going on. During the accident, it nearly got out, but luckily with some sacrifices, the mission was a success. As for those who died, well, nobody could know so they were written off as MIA. First parents, then son."

_Son?_

_MIA?_

_Sacrifice..._

**_...Sacrifice_**

"You know I wonder...what would they think huh? Of you. I mean, they died for a noble cause! But what about you? If you die here, chances are, nobody's even going to find your body! Even then, if someone does, I doubt they would care. This is the Mountain's Graveyard, a place full of bodies and skeletons! Who would care if they found just one more? I doubt that Akatsuki guy would care."

Jirou observed with satisfaction as the look on the boy's face darkened, eyes becoming wider by the second with every word he spoke.

"Oh well, not everyone gets a grave at death. Some tombstones are nameless but hey! Some don't even get a tombstone! I guess you're one of those unlucky few eh?"

"..."

"Getting back to the mission, hmm... I remember their last few moments. They said a few words; you want to know what they were?"

...

Deidara let out cough, tiny bits of blood splattering over his pants. Some gasps were let out before a quiet murmur could finally be made.

"Stop it."

"Silly! They didn't say that! They said something else. More along the lines of 'Sorr-"

"_**Shut up**_."

Jirou whistled and stepped back, observing the boy grunt angrily as he struggled off the ground, only to fail miserably. A few tries more and the boy eventually got to his feet.

_Die_

_Die_

_Die_

_Die_

_Die_

_Die_

_Die_

_Die_

_Die_

_Die_

_Die_

_Dad_

_Mom_

_Dad_

_Mom_

_No_

_This is bad_

_Don't_

"**_Die_**."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yo! Luckily this section even exists. Sorry about the long delay for the next chap, school work I guess. If things go well(how many times have I said this by now...), I may get back to the usual schedule. I got the whole story planned out and I think the ending will do well enough for this kind of thing. Still working on the mid-story arcs though. Feel free to suggest ideas though(preferably through PM).<strong>

**I finally decided Jirou's full name. He was originally supposed to have only a first name and nothing more but I got inspired I guess. Jirou's full name is Jirou Uragiru. **

**Yo! Jellyfisher! Nice to see you back bud! :D**

**Well! Not many people probably read this section but yeah, thanks to the guys(and girls) who actually do. **

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for being my Beta! ****It was nice to meet you all! Please review if you'd like!**


	14. A Dei in the Past

**A Dei in ****The Past**

_(Naruto Shippuden Movie 4 OST 6 - Young Bird)_

_"I'm alone, but an artist is always alone, yeah."-Deidara_

_Clack_

"Ow!"

Laughs and cheers rung about the classroom at the young boy, having had a stick of chalk lightly thrown at his forehead. Deidara winced, hand flying to his head in attempt to sooth the momentary pain.

"I move you to the front and yet you still have the audacity to play with your play dough during the lesson."

The teacher moved down from the chalkboard, approaching the blonde boy with a less than pleased expression. Noise shrank into mild giggles and whispers, legs shifting beneath their tables with excitement. Amidst rubbing his forehead, a hand swiped at a lump of grey on his desk, teacher giving it a look that seemed to be a mix between interest and disapproval. The grey material had been molded to represent an insect of some kind, sporting large wings and tiny thin legs.

Given no permission to handle his creation, the instructor received a weak glare from his student, opening his mouth to speak. "Hey! That's mi-" Deidara was interrupted mid-sentence.

"Now I have nothing against your play, but now is the time for learning, not fiddling with baby toys."

Snickers erupted after the statement, children staring musingly at the little scene. It wasn't abnormal really. Nearly every day during class, they'd start with the lesson and a short summary of the unit; and nearly every during that part, Deidara would be discovered molding his clay than keeping his attentions fixed on the board. After fruitless scolding, it wasn't until last class that the child was moved to the front to be better observed. With no particular friends, it wasn't like moving him into a quieter area of the seats would keep him from staring down at his desk, focused more on his artwork than the teacher's lecture. Only just turned seven, it was Deidara's first year as an academy student. His parents being ninja's, it was only natural that this was his chosen path, much like the other children assigned to this class.

After weeks of the same old, one could expect that the instructor had quite enough of the child inability to focus on the lesson.

Shrugging back into his seat, Deidara hung his head underneath the children's gazes. Even if he wanted to speak out, he had qualms with getting himself into more trouble than the student was already dealt.

"You'll get this back after class."

It wasn't a question, no, not with the usual 'ok?' to end off the sentence. It was a statement with the intention of fully expressing the teacher's authority, and not with the boy's consent.

Leaky eyes followed his sensei as the man returned to the front, placing the sculpture down onto an empty table in the corner of the room. A pang of anger grew within the child, noticing the significant fold of the insect's wing, carelessly left to lie on its side with no consideration of its form or how much effort the artist had placed into it. Treated much the same as any scrunched up notes occasionally passed amongst the children when discovered.

"Have any more?"

Deidara blinked at the question, just now realizing the expectant look he received from his teacher, who sighed before repeating the question.

"Have any more? Clay I mean."

Hesitantly, the child hovered his hands beneath the desk, grasping the clay pouch he had with a nervous look.

"Give it."

"...Fine..," Deidara mumbled with a defeated tone, revealing the clay pouch from the confines of his desk. Tossing it over, the man caught it easily, shoving the pouch into his pocket. A short warning was given before he continued with the lesson. Despite his eyes being glued to the board, the child continued to remain on the previous few minutes, shame piling up inside him until anger was buried underneath it all.

"Can anyone name the three main jutsu's that shinobi's use?"

* * *

><p><em>(Naruto Shippuden Movie OST 9 - Moonlight Talk)<em>

It almost seemed as if a millennium had passed in order for the teacher to allow his class to pack up their bags and leave through the entrance. It was a time he longed for, but at the same time; he dreaded it.

Bag slung by his side, the seven-year old crept towards the corner of the room, purposely avoiding eye contact with the teacher who busied himself with cleaning the chalk board. Even the carefully put footsteps Deidara made seemed to carry throughout the space, signaling the lack of children to muffle the sound with their constant banter.

Staring down at his creation, the child hesitantly grasped the sculpture, noting the coldness of the material after sitting in the same spot without warm hands to keep the clay flexible and squishy; now sporting a slightly rough and cracked texture of dryness. Having chosen and worked with clay over pencils and paper unlike most children, Deidara was aware that clay needed to be constantly kept wet in order to properly mold. Tentatively, he made for the door, slipping a glance towards his teacher who barely acknowledged his actions.

Making it out the door, Deidara felt a wave of relief fall over him. It wasn't as if he hated school, but with his current obsession with his art, keeping his mind from wandering elsewhere had become a difficult task. He didn't hate his teacher, he didn't hate the other students, he didn't hate the academy. It was just...

"Hey!"

Torn from his thoughts came a familiar voice, Deidara blinked, initially nervous at the idea of someone calling for him until he visibly saw who it was.

"Kurotsuchi?"

From corner of his view, a girl emerged, excited smirk plastered onto his face. Visibly, his tense shoulders relaxed momentarily, rather comforted at the sight of a close friend. Kurotsuchi was another academy student, though put into a different class, the two had become close due to Deidara's parents being rather close with her grandfather, the Tsuchikage. They had been close since they had met at the young age of four. With only one academy in all of Iwagakure, it was only natural they became fellow students.

"Guess what!?"

"What?"

"I have Lava nature! Lava nature chakra!" The girl chirped happily with glee, practically bouncing on the spot with happiness.

Though Deidara had easily caught on the excitement, the emotion was quickly drawn over with confusion, faking a smile as he tried desperately in his head to figure out what exactly his friend had meant.

"Uh-yeah! That's great!"

Immediately, the happy air died down as the child was met with a rather skeptical look. "Do you even know what Lava nature is?"

...

"...No," Deidara admitted sheepishly, to Kurotsuchi's disappointment.

"Lava nature is a kekkei genkai, meaning it can only be passed down through blood," Kurotsuchi stated in a matter-fact tone, having memorized part of the sentence from a textbook.

"Blood? You went to the doctor?"

"No! It means that I got it from my parents idiot!"

"O-oh, right..."

"Geeze, you're slow. Anyway, today we learned how to activate our chakra and change the nature so while most of us had earth, I got lava!" The girl swelled with pride and giggled at the thought, "It kind of 'popped' so I burned one of the boys!"

The child leaned in, curious, "Really? That sounds cool, are we doing it?"

"I don't know. I think they chose our class. Akatsuchi got earth too. The ones who got fire almost burnt themselves and the ones who got water made a mess."

"Can I see it? You can do it?"

Kurotsuchi's eyes fell, sighing exasperatedly, "I tried doing it again in class but I only ended up making water. I got a lot of paper wet so Sensei told me to stop."

"...So you can't do it?"

"Nope. Sorry big bro, but I only got it once."

Deidara groaned, having been rather excited to see lava. However yet, he could not see it, not unless he gets lucky enough that Kurotsuchi gets it right while he pretends to finally watch. Making a shrug in indifference to his disappointment, the girl continued on towards the academy exit, friend following after.

"Wanna come over? You're parents are on a mission right?" The girl asked absently, eyeing the clay insect in the child's hand.

"I guess, but they might be home today."

"Okay, but if they're not back, come over; Akatsuchi's coming today! You could ask if they're back."

"Hm."

Kurotsuchi pushed open the door, revealing a yard full of kids and their parents. Making their way down the steps, Deidara nearly jumped at the sight of Kitsuchi, a burly man he knew at the girl's father approaching from behind. Promptly, the girl was picked up by strong arms, hoisting her into the air as the kid laughed. Soon, she was let down again as she looked back at her friend and waved.

"Bye Deidara! If they're not home, you can come over okay!?"

"Yeah," The seven-year old smiled and returned the gesture, casting his gaze away soon after to scan the yard for his own.

Soon enough, eye settled upon a woman with blonde hair put up in a ponytail. Hair in a shade slightly lighter than his own, if she were not female and had brown eyes, than both mother and son would have looked nearly identical.

_They're home._

Immediately, he found himself running, joining his mother by the gate next to the stairs down the large platform of rock that the academy stood on. Nothing else mattered, for Deidara simply looked on forward with his hand entwined with his mother's. The two exchanged some words, the mission was avoided but the kid wasn't so curious onto the topic anyway. Being a shinobi wasn't something he really wanted to do; frankly, he hadn't chosen to be an academy student in the first place. Instead, their conversation dragged on all the way home on the topic of whether or not caterpillars could be kept as pets all the way to how one could discover their own chakra nature. Asking if Deidara could stay at Kurotsuchi's had completely slipped his mind, now more interested in the idea at hand.

"How was school today?" His mother promptly changed the subject, only to notice as her son's mood seemed to lower.

"Okay..."

"Hm? What did you make there?" The two paused for a moment, Deidara blinking in confusion before finally realizing that she had referred to his clay sculpture, still held tightly in his other hand. Giving it a glance, he raised it up to his mother's face, allowing her view it up close.

"A butterfly."

With a light smile, she held her hands out, kneeling at eye level, "May I see it? It's awfully pretty!"

"...Sensei didn't like it," Deidara grumbled, placing it in his mother's hands.

Noticing the bent wing, the woman pinched the clay, straightening it to look relatively symmetrical with the other wing. With a satisfied grunt, she gave her child a determined expression, "Well I think it's beautiful! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, not even your sensei!"

The butterfly was dropped back into the child's possession, wide eyes still looking on towards his mother with awe and unsureness. Looking back down to his now perfected butterfly, Deidara copied her smile and placed it carefully into his bag.

Yeah, nobody would tell him that. If his mother thought it was beautiful, it couldn't possibly be anything else. Sensei didn't understand, and neither did the other students. It was his art, and he could do it whenever and however he wanted to.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Alright! For those of you who read the original, this is where the changes are really made. I didn't like the old past arc so I made another one that may explain Deidara's personality and actions better. Now, this short arc has some significance in the future chapters so I kind of have to add it. I've never been good with short flashbacks so an arc should do it. <strong>

**I may or may not mention their names, but I decided that Deidara's mother is named Kayaku and his father is Supaku. Ever since the rewrite, I decided not to actually name any characters with real Japanese names, but with puns or stuff(most manga artists do it so I thought it would add credibility if I did it too). If you're curious enough, you could go ahead and try to decipher what those two names mean. :) **

**Thanks to Anniegirl132 for being my Beta!**

**It's been a pleasure to meet you all! Please review if you'd like!**


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